A 5-year-old prepares breakfast

It's a great feeling to be served breakfast 5 days in a row, by my helpful five-year-old.  Sliced fruits, beautifully arranged on a plate.

In the past, whenever I overslept, my two sweeties would bring out the fruits and set the table. And now, life just got better! Let's hope it lasts more than 5 days. 

Here's our favourite IKEA kitchen utensil - the apple slicer. It does a great job with apples and works on smaller guavas and nectarines too. 

IKEA Apple Slicer

A Servant's Heart

Sometimes, mums need to be pampered too! We used to call our daughter "princess" and son "prince", but we decided some time ago, that there would be no royalty in our house, and the most important thing to strive for was to have a heart of service, and not be a prince or princess. So whenever the kids put themselves before others, we would spend the next few days finding ways to have a servant's heart and serve each other. They would have to serve each other food, fetch things for each other, and give their sibling the nicer/bigger/yummier choices. It mades them happy to know that they were doing something kind, useful, and appreciated.  

Ever since they could walk, we would get them to serve birthday cake slices to everyone, before having a slice, even on their birthdays... no, especially on their birthdays! The two little ones are responsible for laying the cutlery for meals every day, and for clearing the table after dinner. It took months of training and sometimes our hearts would skip a beat as we watched them carry wobbly glass bowls and cups full of liquid to the kitchen. But at the end of it all, watching them clear the table and hearing them ask, "Mama, is there anything else you need me to do?" makes it worth every minor heart attack!

A few days ago, we had guests over at our house. The little girl stood by the kitchen door, looking at the guests and counting quietly. The next thing, she emerged from the kitchen with cups of water, one for each guest. Perhaps something had internalised and become ingrained after years of serving others. 

One of the problems with modern society is that there is often a lack of meaningful work for little children to do. I've seen so many little ones whose loving mothers and caregivers do everything for them, to the detriment of the child. I've taught seven-year-olds who needed to be told what to do, step-by-step, and who were at a total loss when instructions were not given. Most of them had doting, overprotective parents. At the other end of the spectrum, the children who could work smart and independently tended to have parents who were involved, yet allowed space (and risk!) for the children to do things on their own. 

It's true that it may be easier and faster to just do things for them and do the chores by yourself, but if you just invest some time to walk them through the process, you'll find in the long run that it's well worth the time spent!