I'm sure my kids will tell you how hard they have it. Their incredibly mean mom insists they do chores. In addition to helping with Saturday: Cleaning day, they also have a rotating chore schedule. Nothing major. Just a little job each day. The oldest 3 were doing jobs like "empty dishwasher" or "sort laundry" or "set dinner table" while the next 3 shared simpler jobs like picking up toys and books. Nobody was terribly upset you can imagine, when Lucy got ahold of and chewed up the chore list. I went without help for 2 or 3 weeks, before making a new one this weekend. Today was the maiden voyage for our new list, and I think things went quite well. I changed all of the jobs, giving the older kids more flexibility with their busy schedules, and giving the younger ones new responsiblities. 4 year old John wasn't crazy about helping the 3 and 2 year olds to put toothpaste on their brushes, but hey, you gotta start somewhere. And 2 year old Rosie was tickled beyond words to have the help. It's a simple process, I tried to explain to John..."Put a tiny bit on, let them brush, rinse, tap it on the edge of the sink, and back in the cup. Dry with a towel, and voila." Rosie agreed. "Voila!" she giggled. He thinks he's gonna like setting the lunch table better tomorrow.
It's all good.
