Chores

Did I just say the dreaded "c" word?! I think I did! All my life I've waited for the day I could torture my kids with the same torture I recieved as a child. Doing dishes, helping with laundry, picking up after themselves. That day has been coming for the 6 yr old of the house for quite some time but I couldn't decide just exactly how to go about doing it. I said that this past summer she was going to have some chores while she was out of school and then my brother and his wife and big german shepherd came to live with us for the summer. They took her room and most opportunity to torture.
I think I snuck it up on her by gradually asking her to do small things for me ocassionally and by calling it "helping mommy." She has no idea when she's doing chores and there has been no mention of wages so for the time she is willing to work for free. =)

Todays "helping mommy" list consisted of:

• She willingly took everyone's plates to the sink after lunch.
• I had a basket full of nothing but socks that needed matched and folded. That is one of the jobs I hate the most. After I matched hers I handed her a huge pile of similar socks and she went to work putting them together in pairs and putting them away, along with all her other laundry that I had folded.
• Her and Ryan, together, took clothes out of the dryer and put them on my bed to be folded and then took the clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer for me.
• I'm sure there were other jobs done but I can't remember them now.

And then she said something that I'm sure she'll regret one day, hopefully along time from now. "Do you have any other jobs you want me to do?"

Did this pregnant mom mention that she loves having a 6 yr old girl who, for now, enjoys helping mommy?! I added the word girl because the 4 yr old boy is a different story and post altogether. His jobs are much easier and fewer for a reason.