Helping out

On October 1, our nanny (Gemma), who has been with us for nearly 2 years, moved out. We knew this would happen, but we were all sad to see her go. Fortunately, she has found a good new job with a nice family in our community.

On Sunday evening, October 3, I held a meeting with Austin and Aidan, to agree on the responsibilities we will each take, until it's time for us to leave on our 1-year trip to the Caribbean on October 28.

Austin and Aidan will get up by 8:00, eat breakfast by 8:20 and brush their teeth by 8:30. Then, Aidan will walk to school with Mum and Austin at 8:35. Austin will drop off Aaron at daycare. Austin and Aidan are eligible to earn $2 for each day that we all successfully complete our agreed tasks.

In the first week, Oct. 4-8, Austin also mowed the front and back lawns. He earned some extra money for that, too. On Friday morning, Austin remarked, "Mom, I've noticed that I've been helping out a lot more around here lately, and it doesn't even feel like I'm working any harder. In fact, I feel really good about it." I answered that I know the feeling - I really love to help others.

That morning, Aidan's teacher needed some assistance to reorganize the classroom after it had been painted. The teacher asked for some help from parents. I told Austin about this, and Austin said that he wanted to help out. There was only one parent helping, so Austin worked with her. For part of the time, Aidan's teacher worked with the parent while he had Austin read out the spelling words for the day. Austin had to read out the 15 spelling words and provide a sentence for each one. According to the parent, Austin was "wonderful," and very "helpful." I was very proud to hear this, and I could tell that Austin was pleased too, when I passed on the comment to him.