Helping Hands

There are those days when you wonder what the hell was going through your head, having more than one child. There is more laundry, dishes and crap laying around, then you know what to do with.

But then, there are those bright moments that make all of the nights you lay in bed worried, wondering if what you've done so far will be enough, worth it. Whether they will leave the safe confines of their home and the arms of their family will no longer hold them up, and they will be good people, loving people.

I had one of those bright moments the other day. It had been a really long week, probably only Tuesday, but if felt like a 10 day week. My oldest daughter had a project she had to complete, and she and a friend decided to come to our house to do it. They asked for help to the point where I thought to myself, I better be getting some grade 8 credit for this. Finally I had to step away because my frustration was mounting and I could feel my inner crazy getting ready to emerge and smash to whole project to bits (there was a very vivid picture of this running through my head). Funny how little things can push you to the brink.

As the girls struggled, glued, re glued, revamped and basically started over three times, my younger son became interested in what they were doing, and started to make some suggestions. Let me give you some back ground here, his sister wants to be the boss, always (a product of being raised my a single parent). Whether he is packing his backpack, brushing his teeth, she likes to tell him how to do it.

So for her to allow him to give her any advice was wild. Before I knew it he had stepped right in, making parts of the project from scratch, until it worked. He did it so lovingly and gently. I could only sit back and listen to their exchanges. The girls pushing him on with words of encouragement (well more like transparent sucking up), but he was smiling and loving it.

The next day I had to pick them up, and asked how things had gone. Apparently he had gotten so attached to the project he went to the girls class at lunch time to make sure it was all working, and tweaked is slightly for them.

It is wonderful to see kids, your own kids, doing this for each other.

But of course all good things must end, and yesterday they were back to their bickering selves, It was about nothing more than who always has to do more around here.....will it ever end? Probably not, but as long as I get a few of the other moments, all will be okay.