Where's Margereen?

Recently, in an effort to let go of my "Just let me do it." habit, I have allowed the kids to each pick a meal for dinner that they want to help make. This transition from doing everything myself to being more of a delegator as the kids have gotten older has been somewhat of entensive process. I remember when Shane was 5 finally letting him help fold and put away laundry, which he had been offering to help with for the prior 2 years. Then when he was in bed I'd go and sneak in the bathroom to refold towels or slowly and quietly pull open his drawers and refold and stack neatly his clothes. I don't do that anymore. I still have some difficulty not requiring certain tasks to meet my standards, but when your way is right your way is right. Right? lol.

Now another area we've been working on is READING DIRECTIONS! At Christmas time I literally watched Shane take something out of the box it came in, throw away alll the papers and packaging, then proceed to sit on the couch and say, "Mom... how does this work?" NO JOKE! Then he wanted to make a frozen pizza a couple weeks ago. I say, "Okay Shane, go ahead. BUT READ THE DIRECTIONS PLEASE!!" Now usually I would've just gotten up and made the pizza for them. I'd cut it up, serve it on a plate with ranch, and take it to them asking them what kind of drink they wanted. Practically all but feed it to them. But I'm trying to tell myself they're old enough, they can do it, they need to be more independent. I have six kids and two of them are newborns, just let go, it's not like they're going to burn the house down. WRONG! Come to find out he left the pizza ON THE CARDBOARD and put it in the oven. After pointing to the sentence in the three-step instructions that stated clearly, "REMOVE FROM CARDBOARD", I had a long talk with all of the kids about the importance of being self-sufficient in school, the work-place, and life in general. I said from now on please read the instructions carefully and thoroughly before asking me for help.

That brings me to tonight.

From the kitchen Lacey asks -

"Hey Mom, what's Margereen?"

"Huh?"

"It says, 8 tbsp Margereen."

"Uhhhh, margarine?"

"Ohhhhhh butter!" she laughs.

I was on the phone with my mom and she says, "Where's your 4.0, Lace?"

"Apparently in the fridge hanging out with Margereen!" Lacey joked.

Hey, atleast she was reading the directions!!