Chapter 24 - Leo does not become afraid of work
For a while, Leo reacted strangely to cleaning.
If he spilled something:
“I pay?”
If I wiped a table:
“I work?”
Once he dropped a cup and started crying before it hit the floor.
That frightened me.
Claire and his child therapist, Dr. Melissa Grant, taught us not to swing to the opposite extreme.
We did not tell him:
You never have to clean anything.
That would teach the wrong lesson too.
At four, he helped put toys away.
At five, carried napkins to the table.
At six, wiped juice he spilled.
The language changed.
“Accidents happen.”
“Let’s clean it together.”
Not:
Debt.
Not:
Pay.
Not:
You’ll go hungry.
Once Leo spilled an entire bowl of cereal.
He looked at me.
“Bad?”
“No.”
“Clean?”
“Yes.”
“With you?”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
Normal.
That became the goal.
Not a child who never had responsibilities.
May you like
A child who understood responsibility without humiliation.
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