Mission Accomplished

As a general rule, I am not a fan of doing my kids' chores.
I mean, the jobs belong to them. I do enough other work around the house - and at work(!) - and really do not need to be doing their chores.

Can I get a hearty mommy-amen?!

However, there are occasions when I am willing to break my own rules.
Like Tuesday night.
I got home late from work and as I was on my way out the door after dinner to run an errand, I reminded Matthew of a chore which still needed completing. When I got home from the errand, I saw the chore was still undone. And I was ready to chastise Matthew when I entered the house.
However, he was washing the dishes. (Elizabeth's chore - but she was at work.) So I remained silent about the matter. Thinking, surely he would have it completed when I returned from the next errand I had to run.
Except, when I returned from my second task that evening the trash and recycling containers were still by the road. And when I entered the house again, Matthew was still washing the dishes. Specifically, he was about to undertake cleaning the grate from the grill and seemed overwhelmed by the size of the job. (I am NOT a fan of that chore, either!) But he took the task outside and got to work.
At that point, I decided to bring the trash and recycling containers in for him. Honestly, it really is a minor task, yet I wanted to do something to help. Something to remind Matthew that he isn't alone. So I went outside and started to wheel the trash container to the garage. Matthew looked up from the grate he was scrubbing and called, "Thank you!"
The smile on his face was delightful to me. And I knew my mission had been accomplished. My boy felt helped.

And my heart was happy.