August 12, 2007

Life Lessons in Laundry

One "surefire" (according to the rules of motherhood) way to get things done around the house is to involve your children. I decided to test this theory the other day with my almost five year old. I had many baskets of laundry to fold.

We set out folding laundry, and I passed him the dish towels which he would fold into rectangles and then squares. I was surprisingly impressed with his work. But, then he eyed the bed sheets. "I want to fold those", he stated - no fear in his voice (personally, I'm terrified of the sheets, especially the fitted ones).

I decided to give him a shot at it. He was so thrilled with his results, he wanted to fold another... and another.... and another. I started calculating how much time it would take me to refold the sheets, how much time I had just wasted inviting my child to participate in this folding task with me and when I'd be able to refold the sheets so Aaron wouldn't observe me doing it.

And, then, I stopped. Who really cares about wrinkled sheets, or clothing, for that matter? (except my husband) They just wrinkle back up when you sit in your car for 20 minutes in the 100+ degree heat in Arizona.... so what does it matter if you put them on already wrinkled? In my book, that's a time saver! Likewise, with sheets. I'm just going to stretch them across the bed anyways. They'll straighten out then. As long as I can put the abstractly folded sheets onto the shelf in the closet where they belong without taking up space from some other towels, sheets or extra piece of clothes' property - it will be ok.

I smiled at Aaron and thanked him for folding laundry with me (and silently thanked him for another important life lesson), and we carried the basket of laundry reciting "teamwork" as we headed to the linen closet to put it all away.

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