I love watching a kid who will try something they are not sure about because they are not afraid of "getting it wrong" even if they do. There is a balance between my child being teachable and me trying to "over teach him" so that he get's it right. Spilling milk a few times is a better teacher than me doing it for him or showing him again every time he spills.
One day he said "mom I'll learn faster if I try". Yep...The best and hardest thing I trained myself to do was when he would spill, or whatever it was he was learning, was to not react at all. I would just say "oh do you need a towel? "....and help a few times when he was little.
Yesterday while he was cleaning up after eating at Baja Fresh he spilled a container of Guacamole trying to get it in the garbage. It splattered! He kept right on talking to his friends. Got some napkins,asked for a towel bent down and cleaned it all up without missing a beat. He did not ask his friends to help or expect someone else to do it. One of the workers started to go over to help and I asked if he would please let my son continue on his own. He understood. I watched from the door way. He never looked for approval or disapproval. He just cleaned it up without a big deal. I really liked watching him do that but I did not make a deal out of it because it was the norm as it should be. He would have thought it weird if I had said good job buddy. He already knew it was his job...
