Kenz the Little Helper

It was Thursday afternoon, and something exciting was happening at Kenz's house. Teta and Jiddo, her grandparents, were coming for dinner, and so were Auntie Rana and her cousin Yousef.

The whole house was busy. Baba was vacuuming the carpet, vroom, vroom. Mama was in the kitchen, stirring a big pot of rice and chopping a mountain of salad. Something delicious was roasting in the oven, and the house smelled of lemon and garlic.

Kenz sat on the sofa in her pink dress, with her pink glasses on, reading a picture book. Then she played with her blocks. Then she drew a picture. Then she got bored.

"Mama," she called, "I'm bored! Can you play with me?"

"Not right now, habibti," called Mama from the kitchen. "I have so much to do before everyone arrives."

Kenz went to find Baba. He was moving the chairs to vacuum underneath them.

"Baba, can you play with me?"

"Sorry, sweetheart," said Baba, wiping his forehead. "There's still the bathroom to clean and the rubbish to take out."

Kenz flopped down on the floor and sighed a big, loud sigh. Everyone was busy, and nobody had time for her. It was not fair.

She went to the kitchen door and watched Mama. Mama's cheeks were pink from the hot stove. She was stirring the pot with one hand and checking the oven with the other. A strand of hair had fallen over her face, and she blew it away with a puff. She looked tired.

Kenz watched Baba carrying a heavy bag of rubbish out of the door. Then he came back and started scrubbing the bathroom sink.

Kenz had a thought. It started small, like a seed, and then it grew.

"If Mama and Baba have too much to do," she thought, "then they don't have time to play. But if somebody helped them, they would finish faster. And then…"

She marched into the kitchen and stood up very tall.

"Mama," she said, "I want to help."

Mama turned around in surprise. Then she smiled a big, tired, happy smile.

"Really? That would be wonderful! You know what would help me most? Setting the table. Can you do that?"

"I can do that," said Kenz.

Mama gave her a pile of plates. They were the special ones, white with little painted flowers around the edges.

"Carry them carefully," said Mama. "Two at a time, not all at once."

Kenz carried two plates to the dining table, very slowly, looking at them the whole time. She went back for two more, and two more. She put one plate in front of each chair. She counted: Teta, Jiddo, Auntie Rana, Yousef, Mama, Baba, and Kenz. Seven plates.

Then Mama gave her the napkins. They were soft and white with pink flowers. Kenz folded each one into a triangle, the way Mama had once shown her, and put one beside each plate. Some triangles were a bit wonky, but Kenz thought they looked nice anyway.

Then came the spoons and forks. Kenz had to think hard. "Fork on the left, spoon on the right," she whispered, checking her hands. She got two of them the wrong way around, noticed, and fixed them herself.

"Done!" she announced.

Mama came to look. She put her hand on her heart. "Kenz, this is beautiful. Thank you. That job would have taken me fifteen minutes, and now I can finish the cooking."

Kenz felt a warm glow all the way from her toes to her curls.

"What else can I do?" she asked.

Baba was standing in the doorway, smiling. "Do you want to help me make the bathroom smell nice? I need someone to put out a fresh towel and fill the little soap bottle."

Kenz did that too. She chose the softest pink towel and hung it neatly on the rail. She filled the soap bottle very carefully, with only a few drips.

Then she helped Baba fluff up the cushions on the sofa, punching them so they looked plump and comfy. She picked up her blocks and her drawing things and put them back in her toy box. She even went to the balcony and watered the flowers with her green watering can, so they would look happy for Teta.

Then she came back into the kitchen. "Mama, do you need anything else?"

Mama thought. "Can you wash the strawberries and put them in the big bowl? And then arrange the apples and oranges and bananas in the fruit bowl, so they look pretty?"

Kenz stood on her little stool by the sink and washed every strawberry gently under the tap. She put the fruit in the big painted bowl, oranges at the bottom, apples in the middle, and bananas curving over the top like a yellow rainbow.

Mama carried the bowl to the table, and Kenz held the door open for her.

Then something amazing happened. Mama looked at the clock and said, "Do you know what? Everything is ready, and our guests won't arrive for half an hour!"

Baba came in and looked around. The table was set. The house was clean. The food was ready.

"We finished early," said Baba. "Because we had a wonderful helper."

"So now," said Mama, taking off her apron, "we have time to play. What would you like to play, Kenz?"

Kenz grinned. "Can we play hide-and-seek? All three of us?"

So they did. Baba hid behind the curtains, but his feet stuck out at the bottom. Mama hid in the laundry basket, but she was laughing so much that Kenz found her straight away. And Kenz hid under the table, beside all the beautiful plates she had put out herself.

When the doorbell rang, Kenz ran to open the door. Teta hugged her, and Jiddo kissed her cheeks, and Yousef ran straight inside to see the table.

"Who set the table so beautifully?" asked Teta.

"I did," said Kenz proudly. "I helped with everything. And because I helped, we had time to play."

Jiddo laughed his deep, rumbly laugh. "Many hands make light work," he said. "That's what my mother always said."

That night, Kenz fell asleep tired and happy. Helping, she decided, was even better than playing. Because helping made time for playing too.

Lesson: When everyone helps at home, the work gets lighter and there's more time for fun together. Even small hands can be a big help.