Children will always want to do what they see other people doing, especially if said “other people” are their own parents. If he sees me playing Plants vs Zombies 2 on my tablet, he wants to play too. If he sees Oneal working on something, he wants to try it too.

And funnily enough, one of the most recent things he’s wanted to do is wash dishes!

I suppose it should come as no surprise. He likes to help when I’m in the garden, and he asks if he can water plants or use the spritzer for the bug spray. If he sees that I’m going biking, he wants to go biking too. When we’re cooking, he wants to help. When we’re doing laundry, he wants to help with that too.

One weekend, Oneal and I were busy cleaning the house: vacuuming, sweeping the floors, mopping, wiping down dusty surfaces, taking out the trash and replacing trash bags. We didn’t ask Lucas to help, so for a while he was just lying on the bed, watching YouTube on his tablet. A while later he came down the stairs and asked if he could help. So I let him spritz the floors with cleaning solution as I mopped. Later on he wanted to mop too, so we switched: I spritzed and he mopped. But he got tired, so we switched again. Several times I asked if he was tired, if he wanted to stop, and he said, “No, I want to help!” But soon he was dripping with sweat, and finally he said, “I’m done helping.”

I rather like that he’s like this, that not only is he always curious about trying out what we’re doing, but also that he always wants to help. Sure, I have to remind him to follow instructions and to stop when I tell him to, but it warms my heart that he likes helping out. I hope that doesn’t change as he grows older.