My little helper

My three year old son is a great assistant.  He loves to help me whenever I do anything involving tools or lumber or noisy equipment.  He usually starts off very patient and careful, and he’ll do exactly what I say.  But after about 5 minute, he starts rearranging the screws or parts, or he’ll carry something off and put it in another room or inside a box or in his pocket.  This evening I was installing some lights.  I had to stop and locate my screwdrivers every few minutes, he helpfully put two important screws in a trashcan, and always being the motivator that he is, he said “done yet?” every 30 seconds or so.  I love having his help with projects because I know he’s learning, and it’s fun to work with him, but I’m learning that it takes at least twice as long to do a project with his help than it would by myself.  Which makes it frustrating sometimes, but it’s also fun and very rewarding when we finally finish and he says “Good job, daddy.”

This morning we were at the hardware store to pick up a few things and discovered that they were doing a children’s clinic in the front lobby where kids could build a wooden kit project.  This month’s project was a birdhouse.  Having built several real birdhouses before, this was quite easy for my little guy.  I was so proud of his expert hammering.  Kids twice his age were having trouble, but we had our house done before most people were halfway done.  He always gets complemented on his hammering skills when we do these clinics.  He got a carpenter’s apron with his name on it, and he proudly walked through the store wearing his apron and carrying his birdhouse under his arm.  Everyone we saw in the store commented on how cute and grownup he looked.  A lady in the parking lot even stopped and rolled down her window to complement him.  In one aisle of the store, there was a dad about my age who was trying to load some items on a cart.  He had a daughter about my son’s age who was wearing a pink tutu and was spinning around in the aisle.  The guy asked his daughter for help, but she ignored him and kept spinning.  I asked my son to put a small box in our cart, and he did with one hand, keeping his birdhouse firmly under the other arm.  He then reminded me of another item I’d told him about earlier but had forgotten.  The other dad watched us with a look of jealousy, and I kind of felt sorry for him.  And I realized how lucky I was to have a little boy who wants to follow along behind me and do everything I do.  It makes me realize how much of a role model I am, and that I need to be careful to be a positive example, not just with tools and hardware, but in my daily tasks as well.

Hammering last summer