I’ve been working with a team in Zurich for the last year and a half. This means that I wake up around 5am and head right to meetings. When the boys wake up and eat breakfast and get ready for school, I am always in meetings. This means, I need help during that time of day. I need the boys to be self-sufficient and be totally ready when it’s time to go so we can rush out the door and I can be back in time for my next meeting.

Since Nathaniel wakes up earliest in our family, he quickly inherited the making-lunch chore. His first task when he wakes up is to get dressed for school and then prepare each of the lunches. My kids are super-picky eaters, so lunch is pretty much the same thing every day: a big carrot, a small yogurt, an apple or banana, a cheese stick, a few crackers and a sandwich. Nathaniel can prepare all of it except the sandwich. So he makes all the parts he can, prepares the bread and gets out the peanut butter and jelly for me and a knife, and then I spread it. He then packs everything up and puts them in the bags and the school bags by the door.

It doesn’t seem to me like this is a very big deal. But a lot of people seem surprised when I tell them Nathaniel packs our lunches. Maybe they’re envisioning much more sophisticated lunches. Either way, Nathaniel is a huge huge help in making our mornings smoother and faster.

Thank you sweet little boy!

Stories from 2016 is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.