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With a Little Help… From My Son

A while ago, I Googled “how to keep your toddler busy”. Yes, I like Googling parenting questions—don’t we all want to “feel lucky?”

It turned out that, apparently, I am not the only mother wondering how to keep a toddler entertained all day. One of the suggestions, on a well-known parenting website, infuriated me:

You can complete your daily household chores with your little worker bee, who will enjoy emptying closets and playing with food. Put some flour, rice and cereals on a table and let him be the chef! Sure, he will make a mess but you can always clean up after him!

Uh… yes but no. As if I wasn’t busy enough! I mean, I don’t mind when Mark explores the world and I am fully prepared to clean up the mess but I can’t actually complete household chores with him. And I am certainly not going to encourage him to play with flour or rice—come on!

Now, I do encourage Mark to clean up after playtime and he is enjoying putting his toys away in the big empty diaper box.

He also likes to sort out the clean laundry with me. Well, he does it his way…

Yes Mark, stand here, very good!
Yes Mark, stand here, very good!
Mark...
Mark…
Don't. Please Don't. It's clean.
Don’t. Please Don’t. It’s clean.
Okay, pick it up.
Thank you!
Thank you!
Mark...!
Mark…!
Yes, this is my underwear.
Yes, this is my underwear.
Yes, Mark.
Yes, Mark.
Enjoy, you won't play with girl's panties before long.
Enjoy, it may take a while for you to see girl’s panties.
Done inspecting it yet?
Done inspecting it yet?
And now clean up the mess, please!
And now clean up the mess, please!
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Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

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