Monday, October 20, 2008

on the subject of chores...

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.