Our daughter and son-in-law have always made a point of helping their six children acquire basic life skills at an early age. I've mentioned previously that by age four the kids are fully competent to chop vegetables for a salad, having begun by cutting up mushrooms at age two.
On a recent visit, we were blown away by their skills on a different front.
The family has a small apartment above the garage that is used by overnight guests. This time it was our eight-year-old granddaughter who took complete responsibility for preparing the apartment for our visit, from cleaning the bathroom to putting fresh sheets on the bed. She did an excellent job.
And on each of our pillows she put a neatly-folded set of towels ... and two pieces of chocolate.
She happily and eagerly volunteered for the job. All she asked for was a list of things that needed to be done.
Not to be outdone, her five-year-old sister has her own story: She was asked simply to go upstairs and bring down a new pair of pants for her one-year-old brother. But the two of them disappeared upstairs, and when they returned, she had dressed him in new pants, a new shirt, and a clean diaper! Who needs to play with dolls when you have a real live baby to dress?
