There are pet hair tumbleweeds rolling by me as I type right now (I’m pretty sure I hear that wild west showdown music, even). There are dishes in the sink, a pile of clean clothes on the couch waiting patiently to be folded, and three more sorted on the bathroom floor. The girls’ bathroom mirror looks like a Pollock painting if he’d had a Colgate period. There’s no getting around it; today I must clean.
As a somewhat domestically challenged stay at home mom, this is my least favorite part of the package deal I’ve got going. It’s really too bad that our finances don’t allow for a maid (If any of you do, in fact, have a maid, I’ll try to refrain from snottily saying, “MUST BE NICE.”) because if we had the dough, I’d sure as hell pay someone to do the floors for me. Weekly, please.
Now that the girls are older, I think it might be time to ramp up the ol’ chore list. While part of me says that since I do stay home while they go to school maybe it’s fair that they should only be responsible for their rooms….the other part of me reminds myself that children need responsiblity to grow into responsible members of society. Oh, and of how awesome it is that I can legally get away with using child labor. Score!
I’m toying with the idea of a chore chart so that they can keep up with what they’ve done and haven’t done, and get paid accordingly. I think this accomplishes two things: First it gives them more control over their actions without me harping on them, hopefully fostering more initiative and responsiblity. Second, it gives me an excuse to use stickers. Although now that I think about it, that’s ridiculous. One shouldn’t NEED an excuse to use stickers.
If any of you have a good idea or a template for a chore chart, please send it my way! Better yet, if you want to just come do the floors…
My two sisters and I had a chore chart for a bit because it was cool at the time, but as we got older we each just decided who preferred doing one. That way one person was in charge of the floors, or the dishes, showers, etc.
So what I’m hearing you say is that you’re good at doing the floors. I could pay you in scuppernongs!
I can’t WAIT until my boys are old enough for slave labor. That’s the whole point of having kids, right?
Well, I assume there are other reasons. I just don’t know any of them.
*If either of my children are reading my blog now, I’m totally kidding about the cleaning thing being the only reason for having kids. There’s also the tax deduction factor.
**kidding about that too, Kristen and Anna. You’re both my favorites, btw.