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Early in the spring of 2012 my husband and I decided to buy a batch of baby chicks for our kids. Although I would not consider myself to be a real lover of animals, these chickens proved to be the perfect pet for me and our entire family. As a graduate student and mother of two, my time was extremely limited and my husbands busy job left him with even less time than me.
However, we found that the time required to fed them our table scraps and check their food and water regularly with the kids seemed to be in harmony with our fast paced life. Within six months our baby chicks had grown and we began to enjoyed the daily delight of checking their nesting box for fresh eggs. Our young children loved to carry their small bucket to the backyard each afternoon and squealed with delight at the arrival of each new egg.
Surprisingly, the novelty of finding new eggs did not seem to wear off over the coming weeks and months, even as we found ourselves with more eggs than we knew what to do with. Egg burritos quickly became a family favorite as we tried to find a use for our never ending supply of eggs.
I remember the kids being extremely interested in the egg cracking process, always pulling up a chair to the counter to watch in amazement as I cracked and revealed the inside of each treasured egg. Although they were not allowed to crack the eggs on their own, their little hands could hardly resist the temptation to pick one up and gently (or forcefully in the case of my two year old son) tap it against the counter. They were so eager to help, and as their mother I was equally eager to keep their participation to gathering eggs and, on occasion, handing them to me to be cracked.
But then one afternoon all of that changed as I stood in my kitchen on the verge of tears. I was in my second semester of graduate school, I was taking thirteen credit hours (nine was considered full time) and I had recently picked them up from child care, desperate for a few minutes to spend together before running out the door again that evening. I felt the the divide of mother, wife, student, teacher, and homemaker each pulling at me and begging for my attention. Should I be a good mother and play with my kids? Or should I be a good homemaker and make a healthy meal.
Before going back to school I had committed to maintaining our family's healthy eating habits despite how busy our schedules may become and I knew to honor that commitment I need to make dinner. But in that moment I just stood there in the kitchen looking out the back door window longing to run outside and play with my children. And then I had an idea. Just like that I opened the door and called for them to come. I knew I did not have time to play with my kids and to make a healthy meal that night, but if I was open to the idea of a little mess, maybe, just maybe I might be able to let my kids help me and thereby find a way to make dinner and spend time with them.
They washed their hands and each pushed a chair up the counter just like before. However, this time instead of simply handing me the egg or tapping it on the counter only to have it taken away, I let them crack them all the way. A few, or possibly more, ended up on the counter and I carefully took the bowl, placed it under the lip of the counter and swiped the eggs in. For those eggs that I caught in time I placed my hands on top of my child's and helped them open the eggs and drop them into the bowl. Just as I had feared there were egg shells and messy fingers, even a few (or more) remnants on the floor. But it really was't that bad. Kids are messy, regardless of the activity, and as I have learned through years of parenting, messes can always be cleaned up. More importantly was that what had transpired in those few minutes was more than I could have every imagined. It literally changed the course of my life and that my our family's.
Over the coming months as I included my children in more cooking and more of the household duties I learned that working together has an incredible power to bind us together, to help us feel connected to one another. It has the ability to create unity. And as I continued through the remainder of my graduate program I was more able to balance each of the roles I initially felt so overwhelmed by. I realized that I did not have to do everything for everyone because our family was team. We were there to help each other.
Cute video! So fun.
ReplyDeleteCute video! So fun.
ReplyDelete