Help or hindrance??

Its lovely when your children (and husband/partner/significat other) reach that age where they can help!!

No1 son often complain 'why do i have to do all the work round here?' I beg your pardon oh gorgeous one but I am pretty sure that the lions share of the work in this house is done by yours truly!!

I am a firm believer in child labour, don't get me wrong, and my kids have their own little jobs to do, for example, they have to get their pyjamas out and put them on the bed whilst i run the bath, they have to bring their plates/cups  out to the kitchen when they have finished eating or drinking, they have to put their toys away and keep the play room tidy (I dont play with them!!!!!!).    But everything else is left to muggings here.

So when they choose to help, my spider sense starts to tingle! what do they want? what are they hiding? why are they trying to get into my good books? hmmmmmmmmm 

And then the help you get is a little hit and miss to say the least!!  The darling diva likes to help load and unload the washing machine which often means a random red sock in with the whites or the clean washing is dragged along the muddy kitchen floor where the dog has just walked!!!
No 1 son thinks he is helping when he unloads the dishwasher (usually when its still dirty!!!!)   or lets the dog in and out of the house because he thinks Casper needs the toilet - never mind that its raining outside and the dog has now walked dirty paw prints all over the hallway carpet!!

They both think that its helpful to wash the walls in the bathroom after cleaning their teeth, washing the carpet whilst they are in the bath, and washing each other whilst playing in the garden with the hose!!! 

And as for the husband, well his idea of help and mine differ on a very large scale!!!!  Re wiring the plug socket so it looks nice (hidden behind the tele i might add) and losing nearly 70% of the sky channels is not helpful, vaxing the carpet whilst its raining outside and there is no where for the children and animals to go is not helpful!  but cleaning the toilets, or putting the food shopping away is but , oh ho, I forgot the fairies and pixies do those jobs!!!!!

No1 son is learning all about Lent at the moment and how to help those less fortunate than himself - however a frazzled mummy does not constitute less fortunate ! 'mummy, i am going to help those people in Africa' says he 'how about helping mummy' says I ' dont be silly mummy, you can do it all yourself, you are clever'  Again Hmmmmmmmmm, what is so clever about being  in a position where cooking, ironing, cleaning, tidying, running around after others is the norm??   Obviously they are helping to keep mummy busy, wouldn't want her getting bored now would we !!!!!