DearFlyLady,

My DD for Easter gave me ceramic child proof knives for my DGD to use to help in the kitchen. What a blessing.  Not only was it not full of calories — it’s given us a new routine!! My DGD looks at my fridge every day to see what’s for supper.

They don’t live with us, but we carpool and Grampa who is retired babysits.  She’s forever wanting to help with food prep.  At 10 years of age, she’s more than ready.

Each morning, I leave a list of ‘chores’ for her daily routine to help me and her mom when we get in the door from work.  She makes our salad or chops our veggies needed for the meal that night.  Today, she’s chopping tomatoes and lettuce for tacos.  Last night, she chopped up some pineapple for  dessert along with broccoli to be steamed with our dinner.   We’re having a ball.

Since I already plan our meals two weeks out, she looks at it and figures out what she can do to help.  She comes in at 6 AM bursting with excitement wanting to check to see if I’ve assigned her a job to do.

God bless and thank you for your menu planning and for suggesting that we allow our little ones to help us.  She’ll grow up knowing how to do all this and she’s empowered with the skills needed to do it as well.

A big plus is the dishwasher — dirty dish disposal unit – is emptied in my morning routine and so she can clean up after herself.  I come home to a fully cooked meal (I crockpot before I leave — or set a frozen casserole out) or fully prepped cold salads, sandwiches, etc…and a clean kitchen!! 🙂  We basically have to eat, load our dishes up (which she loves to help with)…and enjoy our evening.

It’s like living in a fancy resort hotel for goodness sakes! 🙂