Everyone likes to be needed. Children are no different. Here's a silly little thing that happened to me that tends to remind me of this idea...
About five years ago, when I had four children ages seven and under, I was going to the Post Office with all of them to drop off some Christmas packages. They were rather small packages - books and videos and things like that - but I was dreading handling all the children and the packages at the Post Office. What a lot to juggle (like everyone says so frequently - "You've Got Your Hands Full"). The kids could be fairly rambunctious in the Post Office and I'd have to juggle the one year old with all the packages just to get in the doors. Argh.
Something struck me on the way there - it was really so simple that it's strange now that it WASN'T obvious immediately. I took the children out of the car, handed them each a package (of course the 1 year old wanted to participate) and they very happily stood in line, eager to hand their packages to the lady. Things don't always work out this way of course, but it illustrates for me the interest young children often have in being helpful, and how well they can respond to this kind of situation.
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