<\/a><\/p>\nOver time, she began folding washrags so beautifully that she graduated to regular sized towels. Her corners lined up. Her piles resembled stacks. She even raced to the kitchen to place them in the proper drawer.<\/p>\n
Now she can even fold her daddy\u2019s workout t-shirts while giving an on-going commentary: \u201cWhy does Daddy need two red t-shirts? Oh, wait a minute, this one isn\u2019t red; it is orange. Daddy has an orange work out shirt and a red one. I like the red one best. Which one do you like best, Mama?\u201d<\/p>\n
But my favorite part of Folding Time is when she unexpectedly busts out in song and dance. Generally, this occurs when she delightfully pulls a pair of boxer shorts from the basket.<\/p>\n
She stands up and holds them against her hips and declares, \u201cTime to do the Chicka Wa-Wa Dance!\u201d Then she stands up and sings a made-up song (that actually has a catchy tune) about clean underwear.<\/p>\n
As I sit in awe of her neat stacks and entertaining musical routines, I can\u2019t help but envision when my four-year-old is twenty-four and she is folding laundry.<\/p>\n
I can imagine her smiling to herself as she recalls our beloved Folding Time.\u00a0 Maybe it will be the whiff of familiar laundry detergent or a pink washrag that triggers a cherished memory of her and I sitting side by side among our sturdy stacks, shared conversation, and laughter\u2026lots and lots of laughter.<\/p>\n
I almost missed out on this special bonding time because I wanted it done now and I wanted it done quickly.<\/p>\n
I was this close to missing out on what really matters because letting my child fold laundry would \u00a0\u201ctake too long.”<\/p>\n
And to think I almost missed out on making this beautiful memory because of being solely focused on the end result.<\/p>\n
Folding laundry with my daughter. Who would have thought something so simple could make such an impact?<\/p>\n
The beauty inside the fold is what I would have missed. <\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\nJust the thought of living my entire life without ever seeing her do the \u201cChicka Wa-Wa Underwear Dance\u201d is enough to make me weep.<\/p>\n
But thank God, I don\u2019t have to\u2026.because things have changed, and I am just getting started.<\/p>\n
Do you have any household tasks that you do with your child or teenager? If so, please leave a comment or email me using the \u201ccontact me\u201d button. And if you don\u2019t, there is always today. Instead of grumbling in misery while you cook dinner, clean the house, or shovel snow, why not grab a little friend and make a memory. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before I became Hands Free I loathed folding clean laundry. The unsightly mile-high heap created a persistent bother (similar to a wart) whenever I caught sight of it passing by the laundry room. Eventually, I couldn\u2019t stand the eyesore any longer and would force myself to fold it, which typically meant putting off playing or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,30,18],"tags":[116,118,121,120,113,119,114,117,1520,38,115,11],"gutentor_comment":7,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/DSC_0017-e1297097351964.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1fUJF-ck","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}