Shuffle Saturday: Helping With School Projects? How Much Is Too Much?

My preschooler, Liam, was given Mr. Monkey for the week. We were asked to take Mr. Monkey on adventures, take pictures of the adventures and write in the journal about what Mr. Monkey did and who he saw.

The previous kids who had the journal took Mr. Monkey to their new playroom and had a tea party. I knew Mr. Monkey would have more of an adventure with us. I've always been competitive, even on things that aren't a competition. With all of the volunteering I've been doing to save the barn, I knew Mr. Monkey would get a few unique opportunities. Sure enough, I was asked to go to the WHO Radio studios to talk about the Barn effort. I took Liam and Mr. Monkey and got a few cute pictures.

I've also considered taking Liam and Mr. Monkey to the State Capitol to visit some of my friends and get some cute pictures. And then I wondered, am I turning this into my own project? Am I really doing this for Liam? Yes. But I'm also, as my dad said, "Name dropping--but not name dropping, with the monkey."

Granted, I probably would have brought Liam with me anyway, because how often can a five year old say he's been inside two radio stations in two weeks? These will be great for his scrapbook and he can look back and say, "Wow. I got to do a lot of cool stuff with mom."

And then I wonder, "how much is too much?" When does this stop being about Liam and the monkey and start being about me. I despise the stage moms on "Toddlers and Tiaras" and do NOT want to become one of them. I suppose when Liam says he "doesn't want to do it" anymore, I'll stop taking him.

So I ask, how much is too much? Where is the line on learning?