My kids and I have a deal. The hubs and I meet all their basic needs for survival, let them live here, give them lots of love and training, and grant a good majority of their wants too. In return, they clean my kitchen every day after dinner for free.
All right, that's not entirely true. I have a deal and they live with it.
The kitchen chore arrangement is not without its bumps. Seems like sometimes I'm riding the youths like rented mules to get it done. I even put together a checklist chart, had it laminated at Staples, and attached a dry erase marker to it.
Anyway, the end of last week was a bit hectic and stressful for everyone. One daughter had Fine Arts Competition and was gone from dawn til after dusk for two days; another daughter had all kinds of tests and homework for Honors Biology and Algebra II; the son had some homework and reading to do. (Don't these teachers know that my kitchen does not receive the proper attention it needs when they are trying to educate my children and prepare them for higher learning?); I was running around trying to do all my RAOKs; and the husband was gone out of town.
So my RAOK was to let the kids off the hook for 2 nights from kitchen jobs with the promise that I would do all their chores for them. This is a big deal when you have 4 kids that make snacks after school, eat dinner, and in general pick up after themselves like teenagers. (That means... they don't.) Plus two dogs.
Now, if you decide to do this type of RAOK for your children, make sure that your husband and daughter don't collude and then accidentally forget to tell you that your friends Todd and Travis are coming over to pick something up. Or, your friends Todd & Travis will end up coming over BEFORE you can complete your RAOK and you will look like the worst. housekeeper. EVER. You don't want your friends Todd and Travis to see your kitchen and dining room looking like something out of one of the episodes of Hoarders (the TV series on A&E), now do you?
Oh. What? This doesn't apply to you? Todd & Travis aren't coming to your house, just mine? Great.
All right, that's not entirely true. I have a deal and they live with it.
The kitchen chore arrangement is not without its bumps. Seems like sometimes I'm riding the youths like rented mules to get it done. I even put together a checklist chart, had it laminated at Staples, and attached a dry erase marker to it.
Anyway, the end of last week was a bit hectic and stressful for everyone. One daughter had Fine Arts Competition and was gone from dawn til after dusk for two days; another daughter had all kinds of tests and homework for Honors Biology and Algebra II; the son had some homework and reading to do. (Don't these teachers know that my kitchen does not receive the proper attention it needs when they are trying to educate my children and prepare them for higher learning?); I was running around trying to do all my RAOKs; and the husband was gone out of town.
So my RAOK was to let the kids off the hook for 2 nights from kitchen jobs with the promise that I would do all their chores for them. This is a big deal when you have 4 kids that make snacks after school, eat dinner, and in general pick up after themselves like teenagers. (That means... they don't.) Plus two dogs.
Now, if you decide to do this type of RAOK for your children, make sure that your husband and daughter don't collude and then accidentally forget to tell you that your friends Todd and Travis are coming over to pick something up. Or, your friends Todd & Travis will end up coming over BEFORE you can complete your RAOK and you will look like the worst. housekeeper. EVER. You don't want your friends Todd and Travis to see your kitchen and dining room looking like something out of one of the episodes of Hoarders (the TV series on A&E), now do you?
Oh. What? This doesn't apply to you? Todd & Travis aren't coming to your house, just mine? Great.
No, this is not my real kitchen! It wasn't THAT bad!!!! I'd light a match to it before I'd let it look like this. This is a photo from Hoarders, the TV series that airs on Monday nights and shows you unimaginable ways that people live!
I'm hoping that my friends have been over here enough to know that I try to pride myself on keeping our home neat and that my kitchen is usually not something out of a TV series about mentally ill people. Hopefully the boys will read the blog and accept my sincerest apologies!!
Anyway, I did get the mission accomplished and here is my kitchen after all my hard work to do a RAOK for my kids, just the way I like it to look:
It was much appreciated Mom :)... eventhough you just told me to come back and clean up the messes I've already made haha. Great job with the RAOK's! I'm proud you're my mom :).
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome ;) Thanks for the sweet words, I'm glad you're my daughter!
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