Parents' Hearts, Children's Ignorance: Children Helping Out

Good evening. This is Yuni.
Thank you for visiting this article.

Today's theme is children helping out.
It's wonderful and appreciated when children want to help, isn't it?
But don't you find it a bit troublesome at times, depending on the situation?

I have two elementary school-aged sons, and both of them love helping with cooking.
Especially when I'm preparing dinner, they sometimes come into the kitchen saying, "I'll help!"

Here are the things they do for me.

• Washing rice
• Mixing seasonings
• Stir-frying
• Cutting vegetables that are easy to slice
• Seasoning meat, etc.

However, they are inevitably slow, so the finishing time ends up being later than my schedule, and the progress of the work tends to lag.
As someone who is a bit impatient, I cook by multitasking while thinking about the steps, so there are times when I find the children's help to be a nuisance. When things don't go according to plan, I sometimes even feel irritated at my worst.

Perhaps it's my own narrow range of tolerance that causes this. I sometimes get fed up with my own selfishness and ego. Even though it's help I should be grateful for, when my routine is disrupted, irritation slowly wells up, and it almost slips out in my words.

Looking back, my mother was someone who didn't let me help. The reason was simple: it was faster for her to do it herself. Even when I occasionally said, "I want to help," she would say, "I'm busy, don't come here," which sometimes made me feel lonely.
Certainly, now I feel like I can understand my mother's feelings back then.

But unfortunately, if that's the case, you don't learn anything.
I also struggled when I got married because I couldn't do anything. Now is an era where people do housework regardless of gender. I don't want my own children to go through that.

When I think that way, I take a deep breath and swallow the words filled with irritation. Then, I focus on just watching over their help.
Even if they are clumsy, children are always serious. They are saying they want to do it from the heart. I shouldn't crush such opportunities for my children's growth. Thinking that, I try not to interfere as much as possible once I've entrusted them with a task.
And I let them help until they are satisfied, then have them withdraw happily. The children are in a good mood, saying they were able to be useful to their mother.

I wonder how many more times we will stand in the kitchen together like this.
When I think about it, this time spent cooking with my children feels like a very precious and beloved moment.

Is it because I became a parent that I think so much about just one instance of helping out?

Whether they know my inner thoughts or not, today, as soon as I stood in the kitchen, they came racing to say, "I'll help!"

Now then, what shall I have them do today?