Let The Chores Begin

Jackson is now 4 years old, and Jeremy and I have decided that it's well past time for him to start helping with some chores around the house. I certainly don't want to make it seem like Jackson hasn't been helping with stuff, but we felt that we needed to formalize the chores, and as of tonight, Jackson is now responsible for folding dish towels, wash cloths and bath towels.

It started off so well. I sat Jackson down in the floor with a pile of 7 towels and showed him how to lay a towel out and then began to help him fold it up. He did really good, so we did one more together and then I set him loose. Jackson folded one towel perfectly by himself, but as soon as I began folding other clothes, Jackson lost it. He kept trying to convince me that he didn't know how to fold the towel, but no amount of talking him through the process again would calm him down. You would have thought I was asking him to scrub the toilets with a toothbrush for the antics he tried to get out of finishing the towels.

He cried. And yelled. And fussed. And whined. And stalled. And complained. And then cried some more.

But you know what? We didn't give in and he finished the towels all by himself! Granted, it took 30 minutes to fold 7 towels, but I'm fine with that. Because although it took Jeremy and I staying after him to finish the job, we didn't get stressed about the situation, and Jackson didn't win the argument. I feel like we had a major victory tonight which feels really good.

Jackson may not agree with this now, but I'm pretty sure his future wife is going to be thanking me for his laundry skills one day!