Little Sarah vs. Sara Lee
by Mark Friedman
2/1/2005
It was early one Saturday morning when Little Sarah called for me from her room."Daddy, I'm hungry," she yelled. I rolled over and noticed it was 7 a.m. "Sarah, why don't we sleep a little more?" "But I'm hungry," she said. As I shook the cobwebs from my head, I figured I'd just dump some Cheerios in a bowl and crawl back in bed. Then it hit me: Our 5-year-old can't subsist on Cheerios, Froot Loops or Fruity Pebbles all the time. In the kitchen, I scanned the cupboard for other breakfast items and found a box of blueberry muffin mix. Just before I ripped open the package, Little Sarah piped up. "Oh, can I help?" She is always eager to be a "big helper" when it comes to tasks, even though she's much too young at times. Sometimes Little Sarah begs to lend my wife, Kim, a hand when it comes to cleaning the bathroom, even though Kim is using the industrial-strength cleaners. Kim tells her that she doesn't need the help and for Sarah to run along and play. But on this morning I decided Little Sarah could handle most of the work. I read in a recent parenting article that it's never too soon to begin teaching little ones their way around the kitchen. Then maybe when they're teenagers they can make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on their own without adult supervision. Besides, if Little Sarah's successful now, she might be the next Betty Crocker, Sara Lee or Duncan Hines some day. "OK, bring your chair in here," I said. I figured I'd open the can of blueberries and turn on the oven but supervise everything else.
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