This afternoon, I walked into the kitchen to find my 3 1/2 year old and my 2 year old on the kitchen floor with bowls of granola, which the eldest had taken upon herself to pour. Needless to say, there was granola all over the floor. I proceeded to show them where the small hand-broom and dust pan were, then I showed them how to sweep properly so that the granola actually goes into the bin instead of just spreading it around and creating a bigger mess, how to dump the contents of said dust pan into the trash, and how to return the hand-broom and dust pan to its proper place. Here are my my thoughts on this event:
Amount of time it took to teach one pre-schooler and one toddler how to clean up after themselves: 45 minutes.
Amount of time (approx.) it would have taken for me to just clean it up myself: 3 minutes
Amount of time (approx.) I would spend in my lifetime cleaning up after them if I never taught them how to do it themselves: 10 years
Lifetime value of the lesson learned: priceless
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