Slave Driver

Exhibit: Chores I Make My Son Do (so I don't have to, but ostensibly so he can earn allowance):

    Sort the recycling (and exercise that green hippie streak I've so carefully bred into him)

    Clean the bathroom mirrors (this is cute, because he climbs up on the bathroom counter to reach and frequently ends up talking to himself in the mirror while cleaning.  Much like a modern-day, male Cinderella.)

    Dust the living room (rarely complete, but incomplete is better than not at all, which is what would happen if his parents were in charge of this.  He's always had a fascination with the duster, so it was one of the first chores he ever did.  As you can see for yourselves below.)

    Pick up dog detritus from the backyard (Ahem.  Gross.)

    Sweep the front step (Photo evidence below. Note the weather. What you can't note is the time.  Which was at about 830 in the morning.  We crack the whip 24/7 around this place!)

    Put away the silverware (which leads to much mixing of fork/spoon sizes in the silverware drawer & arguments over which way the silverware goes in the dishwasher, i.e. upside-down vs downside-up.  The boys have ganged up on me, so they tend to win.  Unfair.)

    Set the table (which is necessary much more frequently, now that I've instituted my family dinner rules)

    Laundry (More pictures below, and yes, I made him do laundry right after soccer practice on that particular day. I give no quarter for exhaustion.)

    Vacuum the bathrooms (with the dustbuster.  When we had a canister vacuum, it was easier for him to handle the real thing.  See below.)

    Make his own lunch (or he doesn't EAT! Kidding.  D checks before he takes off for school.  Usually.)

    Pick up the living room and his bedroom by 8 every night

Pretty good for an almost-8-year-old, I think.  And it's worked out relatively well.  With some kinks...  For instance, first, we told him he has to do 10 chores a week or he doesn't get his allowance (10% of which goes straight into savings and 10% to charity.  He might as well start saving for a car, college and heaven now, because he sure isn't going to get any of the three by relying on us!) Then he told us he didn't want his allowance, so he wasn't going to do chores.  This child has obviously never had to tighten his belt or pinch pennies to amass his enormous collection of toys.  It's a crime, I know.  So then we said not only would he not get his allowance, but he wouldn't get to watch any TV, if he went chore-less.  Which ended up being a really good thing for TV-time-sensitive Mom.  He has to prove he's a goodly way towards doing all of his chores before getting to watch anything, so usually it's towards the end of the week when he finally gets some 'toons.  Thus cutting down on his tube time, AND getting some darned stuff done around this place!  I win all around.

  
And the newest chore he's begun to participate in: evening meal prep.

This weekend, in order to get me to play with him after dinner, he helped me make dinner.  By which I mean, he made the entire meal.  He fried polish sausage, cooked jasmine rice, beat & scrambled eggs, and microwaved green beans.  At dinner, not only did he taste the green beans, but he asked for seconds and claimed they were delicious.  To my knowledge, that was the easiest and most successful first bite of a green vegetable in the history of children ever.  And then during dinner, he stated he wanted to start cooking more, because it was "fun".  He obviously hasn't ever watched my facial expressions during cooktime.  Cooking = not my favorite thing.  Princesses get their meals prepared for them, you know.

And if this newfound interest continues, I'm set for life, people.  Or at least until he moves out.

 PS This last picture would give me a heart attack if I were watching someone else's child do it. But I know mine was supervised to within a millimeter of his personal space, so I don't worry.