This morning I had a little extra time, so I made some cinnamon rolls for the kids for breakfast.

I use a can of crescent rolls to make them. It’s really pretty simple. Here’s the recipe.

This was around 6:50 in the morning.

Number 5 is my early riser. She’s usually awake before 6:30, and she lasts up in her room until about 6:45 before she comes downstairs.

So she was in the kitchen when I started making them, and she asked me if she could make the icing for them.

My first and immediate answer was….

Ummmmmm……

NO.

I mean, it was a weekday and a school day, and while I had a little extra time, I didn’t really have a little extra patience, and I just wanted to get the things made quickly so they’d be ready when everyone was up and ready to eat which would be in about twenty minutes.

But she asked again.

And every post I’ve ever written about letting your kids help in the kitchen when they ask no matter how torturous it is flashed before my eyes.

So I let her help.

The glaze/icing was only four ingredients — butter, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla — so it’s not like it’s rocket science.

And I didn’t really just let her help. She pretty much did it all on her own.

She measured out two cups of powdered sugar. I have two sets of measuring cups and both of the one-cup cups have been destroyed, so she used the 1/2 cup.

So she had to measure out four 1/2 cups — and YES, I made her figure that out so we actually did real life math this morning which means I get extra mom bonus points.

She packed the sh*t out of the first one like she was building the foundation for an indestructible powdered sugar castle, so I taught her how to level off the top with a knife.

That took me approximately 5 seconds.

She measured out the rest of the ingredients, and then she started mixing everything up.

She was kind of flinging stuff all over the place, so I showed her how to use the back of a fork to mix everything together.

That took about another six seconds.

She showed me how thick it was, and I told her that all she had to do was add a little bit more milk to thin it out.

She got it all mixed up and then she was like, “Can I put it in a bag like they do on TV and squirt it out?”

And I was like,

NO.

And then I was being that mom again –the NO Monster — so I put the icing into a plastic baggie and cut a hole in the corner.

She was pretty psyched. 

She concentrated very hard and took her job very seriously.

She did great!  They weren’t perfect looking, but she learned a couple things in the kitchen this morning and it really only took me a minute of my time and minimal guidance.

They weren’t perfect looking, but nobody cared!

The kids devoured them in about three seconds and Number 5 learned a couple things and is now a little bit more experienced in the kitchen.

In fact, the next time I make cinnamon rolls, she’ll be pretty much self-sufficient, which will take a little bit of a load off of me.

And we spent some one-on-one time in the kitchen doing something together, which is really what your kids want most.

Sometimes we say no automatically when we really don’t need to.

This is your daily it’s-not-that-hard-to-spend-one-on-one-time-with-your-kids public service announcement.

Next time your kids ask to help you, remember this post.

And then say YES.

Wanna look cute while you work out?

Wanna look cute while you don’t work out?

JOIN MY BADASS ZYIA COMMUNITY.