Child Labor Or Smart Parenting?

Yesterday Sterling and her daddy had a differing of opinions.

Sterling felt it was a cool to throw her macaroni and cheese all over the place in a fit of temper. Daddy disagreed with her assessment of just how "cool" it was. Homeboy came pretty close to losing his shit, and that takes a LOT.

So I was impressed when he dialed things down a notch and rather than banishing her to her room or punting her little hiney out the back door (both valid options in my opinion), he decided to make her clean it all up.

And clean she did.

First she picked up every piece of macaroni and happily piled them all back on a plate.

Then I gave her a wet rag to wipe the floor up with, and this is when the cleaning shifted into high gear.

First, she scrubbed all around the floor of where she had been sitting. And I do mean ALL around. I don't think the floor has been this clean since we moved in.

Next she scrubbed down the chairs and the underside of the table. I don't think the finial under the table has EVER been washed, but it was yesterday.

Then she decided to scrub under Bennett's highchair. Which was a pretty freakin awesome choice because homeboy regularly splatters that area with insane amounts crap.

Her final step was to give Bennett himself a thorough scrub down. Thankfully I had a clean rag handy and was able to trade out the one she had been using to scrub the floor.

But he was about exactly as appreciative as you would expect a toddler boy to be when he is having his face forcefully scrubbed by his sister.

I was thoroughly impressed with how determined and detail oriented she was with the cleaning. At this rate, she might be ready to replace our cleaning lady within a few weeks.

And just in case CPS happens to read this post, it was all voluntary. Well, after the initial picking up of the macaroni.

But I don't think it is considered child labor if its done by choice. And it's totally cool if she polishes shoes as long it's voluntary and we aren't withholding food or anything to force her to do it, right???

I ask that last question for a friend, not because I am going to start having my almost 3 year old start polishing shoes or anything. Even if her tiny little hands would be perfect for getting into the nooks and crannies of daddy's shoes...

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