Getting the work done
Today I decided to harness the power of my minions children and declared that the house must be clean. I put out an array of encouragements (stars! for your chart!) and consequences (No video games or friends until it is done.) Then I dove into my basement office to do some necessary work. I emerged to discover a sparkling clean kitchen courtesy of Kiki and three other kids playing happily in the midst of the mess. I’m glad they were happy and let me work, but I would have been much gladder to come upstairs and discover that they’d happily cleaned house. I am once again reminded of the fact that I can’t make them want what I want them to want. (Say that three times fast.) They wanted to play more than they wanted stars, or friends, or video games.
At times like these I’m faced with a choice. My kids were playing happily. Happy kids mean that I can get work done and I had lots of work left to do. BUT if I let them continue to play instead of working, then I do not teach them how to be good workers and or to contribute to our household. This is a fence I sit on often. Sometimes I come down on the lenient side, just letting them play. They are children after all and they only get to be kids once. Other times I am more strict and I break up the games to enforce work. This waffling on my part is not ideal. If I were more consistent about making them work, they would be better about doing the work. But then I look at Kiki. Once I get her to commit to a job, she does it quickly, efficiently, and without complaining. She used to be just as hard to motivate as the other kids. So I’m hoping that this is primarily a developmental thing and that the other kids will finally figure out that if they just get to work they could be done in 10-20 minutes rather than having the job loom all day long. Some days they seem to get it. Mostly they don’t.
Today I came down on the stricter side. The result is that we have a clutter free house. Floors have been vacuumed and swept. There is still much scrubbing that could be done, but there always is. Scrubbing is for a different day. Today I’m happy with clean floors and my own task list accomplished.