Lowest common denominator

Here is Jane, helping to put away the silverware from the diswasher. I clear the knives and other dangerous things out, and then set the rack and the dish tray on her level, and finish emptying the dishwasher in about half the time it takes her to line up all the untensils carefully in place. It's so cute to have such a perfectionist! (Michael says just wait, it will get annoying soon enough. Pah!)

She has also begun to help put away the laundry, and is pretty much solely responsible for her and Ella's things. I bring the depleted laundry basket into the nursery, and then reach out items by category and hand her armloads of stuff. 'Go put this in the pajama bin!' I tell her, and off she trots to comply, feeling very proud of herself, no doubt, for the responsibility. Or, 'Put these in Ella's onesies drawer!' and so she does. She knows what goes in every drawer and bin now, and soon, I hope, will be at the point of recognising each item of clothing for herself. It helps that we don't bother with folding most clothes.

I am a very firm believer in the lowest common denominator thinking, which holds that the youngest member in the family who can possibly do something should, thus shifting the workload down as far as possible. We are fighting off an invasion of ants right now, and I half wondered why I am fighting them off with deadly poison, instead of welcoming them in and assigning them the task of wiping the kitchen counters clean of crumbs every night.