Whether you think giving children chores is mean or not, I don't. So earlier in the summer I made up job charts for all four of my monkeys. That's right. My 9-year-old has the same jobs as my 3-year-old. And trust me, they aren't that hard. The way I set it up this year was that each child has the same basic jobs all week long. It is less confusing especially for the little ones who can't read the job charts. With that being said, I dread the weeks that anyone has "DISHES" as their job except for Paige, my oldest. Oh what would I do without her? (Sigh!) She is the only one who has really figured it out. And although you may get a spoon with a little leftover som'n som'n on it, for the most part she is pretty thorough. This week it has been Gracie's turn to do the dishes. She has worked sooooo hard and improved so much over the summer. But the other night at dinner my little 5-year-old grabbed a glass and filled it up with water and started drinking only to exclaim, "This tastes like soap water!" I turned around to see a full head of bubbles on the top of his H2O. I grabbed the glass and smelled it. Green apple soap. Mmmmmm. How refreshing when you need a drink! Gracie laughed about it claiming that she had rinsed the dishes before putting them away. I'm still not sure if I believe her.
Last night I was up late watching "The Office" so I went and got myself a bowl of cold cereal. As I sat down and started eating I could smell dish soap. I licked my lips and took one close look at my spoon only to realize that it had dry dish soap on it. Gracie! (said how Seinfeld says "Newman!") And then I finished my bowl of cereal.
My point is that when you give your child a job you create three for yourself. You either have to help them do their work or you have to go back and redo their jobs after they've already done them. Being a parent is hard. But it's a lot of fun too. And I'll admit that while eating my soapy midnight snack I laughed about my Gracie. I'm guessing that she was laughing about it too.
PS--In Gracie's defense she really does do a great job on the dishes. We just need to work on her rinsing technique. And I'd take her dish washing over my 3-year-old's any day. Just sayin'. This is how he does it.
3 comments:
That makes me giggle... Your kids are seriously wonderful! You do an excellent job with them. I should really try a chore chart with Jax. I'll let him know it was your idea :)
Awesome! Will loves to do potties and mirrors. It's been almost 8 years of having to re-do....plus clean up a giant mess to boot. The other day I went to check his work on the mirror, and I'll be darned it was clean. I'm pretty sure I heard a choir sing!
I cannot bring myself to do chore charts because I can't stand watching things get done wrong the first time! It drives me bananas! I realize that this may be part of the reason my children are spoiled and walk all over me.
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