Say, Mami, let me vacuum a little

EggEgg's mood is like the weather. On Tuesday, he's his whinny self, I'm so tired of him, of scolding and of repeating my request over and over again.

Today is house cleaning day, and he's in his best form again. After breakfast, I told him that I need to vacuum, "So could you please move away your toys & return them to the shelves & toy boxes?" and "Could you please wear your slippers around the house?" and "Could you put away your breakfast cereals and bowls?" He did all that merrily, and settled to a 30-min Wiggles show while I tidy up the rest of the place.

By the time I take out the vacuum cleaner, he's very very eager to help.

"Ok, drag this cable all the way to the other wall... more... backwards... more... Come back here, drag some more."

"All right, you want to vacuum too? You may vacuum your room, and I'll do the corridor."

"Look, here's the dirt. Here too. Here also. (Pointing with my feet)"

"Hey, you've vacuum enough. It's my turn now!"

"Ok, Mami'll vacuum a bit of the corridor, and you may vacuum the kitchen."

"My turn, my turn!"

"Hey, hey, stop it. You've already vacuum so much, it's my turn to vacuum some!"

Even though the vacuuming took twice the amount of time, truly EggEgg's skills is becoming so good that I actually saved energy in the whole process. I hope this sort of helpfulness could continue for the next 20 years.

The secret to make this such an attractive activity is, well, a lesson I borrowed from Tom Sawyer:

(From Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, Chapter Two, 1876)

“What do you call work?”

“Why, ain’t that work?”

Tom resumed his whitewashing, and answered carelessly: “Well, maybe it is, and maybe it ain’t. All I know, is, it suits Tom Sawyer.”

“Oh come, now, you don’t mean to let on that you like it?”

The brush continued to move.  “Like it? Well, I don’t see why I oughtn’t to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?”

That put the thing in a new light. Ben stopped nibbling his apple. Tom swept his brush daintily back and forth – stepped back to note the effect – added a touch here and there – criticised the effect again – Ben watching every move and getting more and more interested, more and more absorbed.

Presently he said: “Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little.”