I come into the house to find the minion mopping her bedroom floor while the missus is sweeping in the dining room.

Dad, you must be careful you don’t slip, we’re mopping the floor so it’s wet.

Her mom didn’t ask her to mop the floor. She took the mop and insisted that she wants to do it. Last week she spent two days cleaning the living room’s sliding door. I have a screwpine in the garden that’s currently dropping big, hard seeds that need to be picked up by hand before I can mow the grass. The other day she took a bucket and started picking them up.

I like to tell myself we must be doing something right, but honestly we can’t take credit for this. This is all her. We just let her do things even if we have to go back afterwards to do it again properly, lest she becomes discouraged and loses this helpful spirit.

• Parenting
• The Minion Says...
• The Squishy Files