Getting Involved

My parenting class has made me realize the importance of getting the babe involved in projects around the house.  At first I resisted this brilliant piece of advice due to the fact that getting the babe involved meant that projects took much, much longer.  The more I resisted letting her "help," the more I found that I was dealing with misbehavior and general trouble making by not giving her the opportunity to contribute.

I now realize I was making a HUGE mistake.  My desire to get things done quicker, was in fact hurting her self esteem and creating a situation where she would act out just to get attention.  By not getting her involved, I was sending her a message that she didn't have the skills required to contribute.  And what kind of lesson is that for a parent to teach to their kid?

So how does that connect to the picture of my bandaged finger?

On Friday afternoon I asked the babe if she'd like to help me prepare some eggplant for dinner.  I've been trying to introduce more vegetables to the kiddies and have read that if children are involved in the prep work, they are more likely to eat the end product.

So we got out the cutting board and moved her stool over to the counter after washing our hands.  She was pretty psyched to help out and I was curious to see if she'd end up digging this funky purple vegetable.  I was also in a bit of a rush as we had been at the park and I wanted to get the eggplant roasted in time for dinner.

The babe has a habit of setting up her stool in a location which kind of pushes me into the corner.  As I was conscious of the time, I didn't bother repositioning her.  Meanwhile the little guy, who isn't so much of a kitchen helper at this point, was just running around and repeatedly banging into us.  Things were moving along well until SLICE. 

Yes folks, I had sliced into the tip of my ring finger.  It was a good healthy slice which luckily stopped before the whole tip of the finger had been removed.  It was, however, a serious cut which proceeded to bleed profusely for at least half an hour.  I panicked and completely lost my marbles.  I was having a serious crying fit while trying to explain to the babe that I was, despite how I was acting, quite fine. 

After deciding against going to the ER in rush hour with 2 kids, I decided to buck up.  I taped on some paper towels and continued on with feeding the kids, drinking some wine, and cleaning up the kitchen (in that order).

So the moral of today's story is not to rush when getting your kids involved in projects.  As parents we want to teach our children the right way to handle things, and I'm afraid I didn't do such a good job of that on Friday!  And by the way, she didn't like the eggplant.