Making Momma Happy

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My daughter's new kick is to make Mommy happy.

Before she does something, she asks, "Will that make you happy?" and when she's done, she says, "Are you happy now?"

I try to explain to her that I want her to do things to make herself happy. But she's three. She's happy if she gets two cookies instead of one. So making her bed, picking up her shoes, cleaning up her playroom... those aren't high on her happiness radar.

And I feel sort of guilty about it... That this is the beginning of some sort of problem she will have, a problem that I'm going to have to pay a lot of money in therapy for during her teenage years. Maybe she will be diagnosed with low self esteem or an inability to make herself happy if she is not pleasing other people. And I don't want that -- I don't want her to worry so much about making other people happy, I want her to do thing to make herself happy.

Still, though, this is a great tool for getting stuff done around the house...