I remember that every kid in our neighborhood raked leaves, or mowed the lawn. Boys and girls shoveled driveways. I remember my father teaching us to clean the eavestrough, we had to get on the roof. But he was teaching us to take care of a house. We had to clean the storm windows/or screens and put them on. Kids did this back then and it was a neighborhood of professionals, engineers, doctors, dentists. We washed the car on Saturdays.
Maybe our parents had more patience and tolerance for how things were done, as long as we were learning and we learned it was faster to just to it ourselves.
I do know that since I started this thread, I have stopped myself many times. When DD is pulling her turtleneck off and says "help, its stuck", I respond "you can do it" and instead of reaching over to help, she gets it done. And when she asks for help and I say no, and she starts to complain, I told her I read an article that parents have to do this or their kid won't learn to solve problems. And she wants to be able to solve problems, right? That is why she must take her dictionary and pencils and put them back where they live in her room.
I did way too much...
Ren
