These days Havvie and I spend most of our time doing practical life work, if we’re not outdoors. It’s quite exciting for her to complete the work she sees her family do on a daily basis and quite exhilarating for me to watch her master these skills over time.
Taking down a load of washing has been one of these skills that she’s been mastering. Here she is in action. One thing I noticed was that if the clothes were hanging out of the basket, she would promptly fix it. This is her sense of order coming through.
I’ve also been practising stepping back and letting her work through challenges herself, rather than rushing to help her at the first sign of distress (another tip for building resilience). Too often I find I’m just limiting Havvie, by not waiting to observe what she can do or for her to tell me when she needs help. If I had tried to rush in, I would not have known that Havvie can in fact pull down the clothes that are hanging at the top part of the hanger without needing any help from me.
It’s amazing to see toddlers find excitement in what adults find to be mundane. We could all learn something from their determination to complete their work and complete it well. The intrinsic satisfaction that comes from using their hands to complete tasks that are important (rather than just being kept busy all day) is crucial to building their sense of achievement and resilience. When you look at it this way, taking down a load of washing is anything but mundane.
