chores, chores, chores

so now, as always, housework must be dealt with. and as you know, i hate housework. i HATE housework. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE IT!

but i have kids who are now old enough to help out around the house. seven, four and two are old enough for jobs (albeit very simple jobs for the 2-year-old). yes, folks, THIS is why i bred. in the hopes that, one day, however distant it seemed at the time, there would be someone here to mow the lawn, shovel the snow, take out the garbage, tidy the house, do the dishes... basically, everything. teehee

and so, on that note, i give you.... .... THE CHORE LIST!!!!

Blithe (age 7)
feed Smokey... twice daily. (it's her job b/c smokey's food and dishes have to be on top of the dryer, out of charlie's reach. but this also puts it out of bram's reach, so it falls to blithe.)

make her bed

put clothes in hamper

help with supper prep

drying the dishes

sweeping (her request, b/c "i LOVE sweeping!")


Bram (age 4)
feed Charlie (our new doggie - boxer/shar pei mix - he's awesome, though dumb as dirt! but i love him!). (once daily.)

make his bed

pick up cars, trains, tracks

help with lunch prep

wash the dishes (he specifically requested this one, and really, who am i to argue? [see why i bred comment above]). (and let me explain this task: he's mostly washing plastic stuff, and the cutlery, minus sharp knives. i may be lazy... er, i mean, ready and willing to instill in my kids a good work ethic... but i do have enough sense not to hand him a butcher knife or china tea cup to wash.)


Asher (age 2)
tidy cars, trains and tracks

put plastic dishes, etc away

help with laundry (now let me explain this task: i take the clothes out of the washing machine one by one, and hand them to him. he puts them in the dryer. and later... i take the clothes out of the dryer one by one, and hand them to him. he puts them in the laundry basket. and we spend the whole time talking about colours, shapes, animals, favourites, etc etc etc)


so far, so good. i've already had to shoo the kids away from the sink b/c they had other jobs they needed to do more urgently than dishes. and they've been feeding the animals very well over the last couple days already. except bram, who seems to think that it's too much work to put more than 4 or 5 bits of food in charlie's dish, but he'll learn. lol

and this isn't to say i've delegated all the work to the kids. as you can imagine, i have a TON of stuff to do around here, including re-arranging the house, organizing the chaos, grocery stuff, cooking, washing pots and pans, laundry, and wishing i could afford a housekeeper. lol

i'll let you know how it all goes in a week (provided i can still find my laptop by then).