Nothing is more stressful than trying to shower the 4 and 2 yr old while a baby is screaming in the background. And this scenario has played itself out many, many times in my life. But now that I have 11 and 9 yr old helpers, the stress has been almost removed. I say almost coz sometimes neither the 11 nor 9 yr old can pacify her.
I am so, so grateful for all my older children. Obviously the 11 and 9 yr old can do more since they are physically bigger and therefore strong enough to carry the chubby one 🙂 Just last week, I was able to vacuum the whole house, wash 2 toilets and take a shower while the 9yr old occupied the baby.
But the 8 (today!) and 6 yr old are no lightweights either! On days when the older 2 are out, they certainly help a lot in distracting or playing with her when I am busy.
It sure makes me wonder how I managed to survive the years without any big kids!…Oh yeah – I was much younger then! 😀
And it is so nice to be able to say to the kids – please go and pack up the house and have the house almost spick and span in 10 minutes or less! Again, almost coz you know how kids never see what you see in terms of misplaced items and dirt 🙂
Grateful! Yes, that is what I am. For kids who help out and who are willing and able to serve. Thanks guys!
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God has certainly blessed you with such wonderful helpers! ;D
And I find that it also depends on the kids. Daniel is most reliable and helpful of the 3 older ones.
This reminds me of a recent incident.
Dh and i took baby to the nearby clinic just down the road. We left the 2 older ones at home watching tv n told dd to take care of the home and of ds and told both firmly not to open the door to anyone. We were gone prob 20-30mins at most and when we came home the living room n their room (which were littered with their toys) was spick n span (almost, ykwim). Dd went ‘tada!’ as we opened the door. She said they’d decided to surprise us and boy was it a nice surprise. I realised 2 things: 1) they are more capable than we think and 2) they need to do this more often!
And yes, i’m v grateful esp for dd who’s pretty good at watching baby. Ds’s idea of watching out for bb is to yell loudly for me when he can’t stop bb fr doing something. lol!