Child pays attention! Stop the presses!

The A-train, a couple of days past three and a half years old, likes to help me wash dishes. I wash; he stands on a chair and rinses, then moves dishes to the drain.

Because it is still novel, he prefers washing dishes to just about any other pastime. Last night, he actually declined a movie to help dad wash dishes. One of his favorite parts is pulling out the nozzle that projects from the spigot. It stretches about four feet, and retracts into the spigot, tape-measure-like, when you release it.

As we were working last night, he expressed resentment with the fact that I was washing dishes faster than he could rinse them. (A stack of dishes to rinse, of course, means less playing with the retractable nozzle.) I was going to explain that this was his problem, that I was charged only with washing, and that his speed was his own issue.

I started with a question: Do you know what my job is?

He looked up at me. "To tell me what to do?"

I admit, I have told him that on occasion. Now if I can just get him to embrace as enthusiastically that his job is to do what I tell him, we will be all set.