Recently Emma has decided that she is able to make her own chocolate milk–which happens frequently around here. I thought, WOW, this will be GREAT. One less thing for me to do. Then this morning it went sort of like this…
I get the cups out.
I get the milk out and help her pour it since the gallon size is almost full.
I leave the room for her to do the rest.
"Uh, Mommy, I made a mess, come clean it up please."
I walk in to find her stirring the syrup in the milk, syrup and milk on the counter and syrup on the side of the container. I clean it up and then leave the room for her to finish.
"Uh, Mommy I can’t get the tops on the cups."
I go back to the kitchen to pop on the tops.
Really all Emma did was pour in the syrup, get the spoon and stir. And I had an extra two trips back into the kitchen and an extra mess to clean up. I’m thinking that’s three extra things for me to do instead of one less thing for me to do.
We have a strict “no kids getting their own food” rule in the house – it’s not only for cleanliness’ sake but also enables us to know exactly what they are eating throughout the day. I’d rather take 15 seconds to make the milk then come in to a giant mess.
Fortunately, my kids are okay with that for now.