TRICKED!

Ya' know, when the whining hits an all time high and the sound has pierced your brain for days and days, until you want to stuff a lazy boy recliner in your ears or die trying, this is not a good thing.
In the interest of helping, of bonding, of generously assisting a tired child in getting on jammies, of caring and care taking, The Husband and I have sprouted 2 little buttheads, where our children should be.
There are plenty of things both Teena and Genea can do for themselves and many, many things they can mostly do for themselves. The occasional inside- out shirt or lost sock, those things they need help with and we take those opportunities to nurture our children. To demonstrate, to model, the reward of working with a person, helping the person learn to help themselves. Feel the love flowing from my righting of your twisted sock and let the love wash your brain in happiness, contentedness and security knowing you are not on this journey called life alone.
This works for people. I have seen it happen, and it can actually work. So I don't know if it is my particular children, or if I am just doing it all wrong. Because what I have as a result is two entitled complaining whiners.
In the average day, Teena probably spends about an hour getting dressed in the morning and putting on jammies on at night. She does not want to be alone in her room. But if you go in there to help her, she then wants to play. If you threaten to leave, then she whines and cries. And my split second reaction is OH MY UNHOLY HELL MAKE THAT NOISE STOP and I get irritated and shove jammies over her head. Because she is still a little kid, and she does need help. HUH! But you know what? An amazing transformation takes place IF you happen to be dangling a Tinkerbell costume in her line of sight. Then Teena becomes a clothes- changing savant. Like Rain Man counting toothpicks, her abilities and fine motor control escalate to the proficiency of a teenager and Teena rips and whips through her required duties of changing her stinky underwear and other gross things to become the Tinkerbell Fairy Butterfly Princess With a Wand.
Now Genea, she has a habit of letting loose with all her muscles when she sleeps resulting in the um, dampening, of all fabric around her. Whether she has full control of this or not, I really cannot say. But, part of her responsibility in this is to take off her bedding and put it downstairs. I recently started having her help me make her bed up again. And, I have even started having her try to do the sheets on her own. They don't have to be perfect, I don't have to sleep on them, so as long as they are close, that works. But of course, she is not strong enough to do the fitted sheet herself. I hate that stupid fitted sheet. I tell ya, if you want to see me tortured into giving up spy secrets, just stick me in a room with a small fitted sheet to deal with. In particular for some reason the sheets we have for Genea's bed are extra tight and the bed is extra inflexible so the damn thing really takes two big people.
Unless all you have is one small five year old who is missing out on freshly delivered pizza. Then Genea can put her own fitted sheet on. Herself. Alone. The whole thing. And the rest of the bed too. And, by the way, we have not had an oceanfront bed since this discovery was made and tested.
"Just say 'no' to" Supermoms! Generally Adequate Mom's Rule!