So many little tasks seem trivial to adults—things we can just bang out without thinking. Why hand them over to a little kid who’ll probably just make a bigger mess? But that’s exactly the point: all these big and small experiences add up to shape who they become and how they approach things later on.

We love watching her figure these things out. We do our best to stay chill about it—we don’t expect perfection or demand that everything be spotless. When you’re parenting and want to keep your sanity, you have to let go of the small stuff and let them try. Little by little, we’ve realized there are actually things we can hand over to her.