Truly Tender: Ode to Dishes

I just experienced the most tender moment with my toddler.  It has been repeated many times in the last couple of weeks.  She has discovered that helping mommy with dishes is so much fun.  Taking the cups and plates in and out of the dishwasher as I put them in, standing on the dishwasher door, opening and closing the dishwasher . . . .her creative possibilities are more than I can keep up with.

My thought process while doing dishes seems to have a similar theme. At first I am thinking: "oh please don't drop the plate!  It will break and you could get cut! Am I a bad mom if I don't let her help me?  What if she grows up not wanting to do chores with me because I stripped her of this precious opportunity?  What if she gets hurt because I don't do anything and I let her help? But shouldn't doing dishes with mom be a positive childhood memory?"   . . .my creative emotions and thoughts seem to instantly go full fire speed and I don't know if I even kept putting any dishes in while I tried to make a decision of what to do next.  Exhausting!!

So what did I do?  I almost gave up and didn't load any more dishes and waited to do it later when I can think clearly again,  but I really shouldn't put off the dishes anymore this time. So . . . I started handing her silverware to load in one at a time.
  Phew!  That worked!

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