My bundle of
joy arrived January 29th at 9pm. The darling weighed over 10 pounds
and left me exhausted. That was the night my college graduate dropped off a
huge bag of laundry for me wash.
I don’t
think my son realizes that at my age, 9pm is the middle of the night. Nor does
he realize that his actions are a display of entitlement. What I think he
believes is that he’s putting his Business Management skills to work.
When my son
stopped by for a weekend visit he entered the house with a mesh laundry bag
over his shoulder. It hung from his back like Santa with a sack of toys. I
heard him before I saw him as he shouted, “Ma, I’m home and I’m bearing gifts.”
As I entered
the room my son said, “You might want to start washing tonight, I have a lot of
clothes.”
I looked at
him like a deer in headlights then said, “I’ll pencil you in for tomorrow and
leave an invoice.”
I agreed to
wash the bundle…the next day. As I began to sort the clothes I discovered socks
balled up, pants with one leg inside-out, and towels that were softer than
mine. I might keep the towels.
After the laundry
episode I added a new word to my son’s vocabulary – empowerment. I
looked up the definition for him in my Webster’s Dictionary – yes I still have
a print edition of that. Here’s the definition – “The granting of power, right
or authority to perform various acts or duties.”
I grabbed an
empty paper towel role and pretended we were in ancient times when kings/people
were knighted. I had my son face me and lean forward, tapped him on each shoulder
with the paper towel role. I said, “I now deem you empowered to do your own
laundry.”
“Is all this
necessary?”
“I’m quite
sure it is. I want you to know without a doubt, that I have every confidence that
you are capable of washing your own clothes.”
At this
point, I felt the eye-roll coming before I saw it. This only fueled my actions
of exaggeration and sarcasm. “Come with me.”
My son followed
me to our laundry area where I pointed out, “This is the Tide Laundry
Detergent. Here are the Gain dryer sheets. You have all the necessary
tools to get the job done.”
After a few
more rolls of the eyes my son said, “Okay, I get it. Empowerment. I need to do
my own laundry.”
This fun
exercise in empowerment is an example that worked well for my son. He
appreciated the humor tailored just for him. My son knows that I don’t mind occasionally
washing his clothes, but there are ground rules and expectations. If I’m
washing his clothes, it’s to free him up to do something important working on
his car, repairing something for me, etc.
And the
moral of this story, if there is one…it’s okay to support your kids and have a
little fun in the process.
Think of a
fun situation that has brought you joy recently…may it spread sunshine
throughout your day.
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