Wilderness Soup

So yesterday the girls come running into the house,
Daughter:"Mommy, mommy, you've got to taste this soup we made! Trista brought over some veggies and it's just delicious!"
Hmmm...what could this mean? I asked for clarification...
Me:"What do you mean you made...SOUP?"
Daughter:"Trista brought over some vegetables and we got a bucket and we made soup! Look!"
Me:"BUCKET? What bucket?"
Daughter:"This bucket..." holding up my disgustingly dirty mop bucket.
Me:"OH MY GOODNESS, DO NOT EAT THAT!!!!"
Daughter (getting teary-eyed): "But we worked REALLY hard on it!"
Me: "DO NOT EAT THAT...there are GERMS all over that bucket!"
Daughter: "No...I washed it."
Me: "You washed it with what?"
Daughter: "I washed it with water...WARM water!"
Me: "Oh my goodness...sweetie, water does not make things clean, there are still germs all over that, DO NOT EAT IT! Besides, how did you cut up those vegetables?"
Daughter: "With a rock!"
Me: "UGGGHHHH...please dump it out!"

Sooo...what is a mommy to do with a disheartened child who worked "SO HARD" on wilderness soup? After a brief lesson about how germs are microscopic and you cannot see them or taste them but they can still KILL YOU, I gave them a clean cutting board, knives, washed their dirty vegetables (literally covered in DIRT) and had them wash their hands. I cleaned the table outside and let them have at it. They cut up an amazing amount of veggies...we threw them into a pot with some chicken bouillon and at the end threw in some alphabet noodles and viola, it was DELICIOUS--and edible!"

Children crack me up with the things they come up with, and the things that they thing are totally appropriate! I have to admit, it was very cute...very disgusting, but very cute. I'm glad I took the time to help them create a soup that they could actually eat because they were so proud of themselves. It was at the time when I should have been napping (both boys were snoozing), but I decided for a change I'd forgo my nap and help these girls do something creative...I'm so glad I did. Plus, then I didn't have to make dinner! :)