Just Do What You're Told!

When I was a teenager I was required to do chores every day and more extensive chores on the weekend. My father made sure the dishes were washed, dried and put away every night. There was no constant reminder or asking 12 times. We just did it, or else. Of course my father was abusive so there was that, but there was also respect. I know that my friends did the same things. If your parents asked you to do something you just did it no questions asked.

When I remind my kids to do the dishes every night I get dirty looks or attitude. My daughter will usually come into the kitchen and start slamming cupboard doors and banging dishes and glasses down. It amazes me every time because the way she is slamming things around, I am surprised glasses aren’t shattering. My son will just keep telling me he will do them later or after this game. Then when I remind him he says I am in the middle of a game. Then I give him a little while and I come back and he says I haven’t died yet! UGH! No one cares! I swear sometimes I want to throw that damn thing right out the window!

The other thing I was responsible for when I was younger, was laundry not only was I to do my own laundry, but I had to do my father’s as well. So I had to wash, dry, fold and iron my dad’s stuff. He wore a lot of button down shirts and they all had to be ironed and hung up. Oh yes we had the basket of clothes that needed to be ironed in the closet and that was one of my chores that I needed to do weekly.

My kids are only responsible for their own clothes. If they need clean pants they need to wash them. They are also responsible for washing any towels that they use after they shower. They take a shower and any towel that they have on their bodies when they go in their room ends up in their laundry baskets. This is where the problem lies. The kids do not do their laundry regularly and they hoard all of the dirty towels. So, in order for my husband and me to take showers I have to yell at the kids and tell them to bring out all the dirty towels so I can wash them. It is so aggravating, especially for my husband who works hard all day and wants to come home and take a nice hot shower. NOPE! No clean towels again! I talked a little about how frustrating this in my Youtube video this morning-Where Are All The Clean Towels?

So, I am going to make up an after dinner schedule and hang it on the wall for my kids. They will need to do all of these daily chores in order to get on their electronics after dinner! I am sick of not having clean dishes when I want to eat.

To solve the dirty towel issue I am going to buy each of my kids 2 towels in one color. I am even going to do wash cloths and hand towels! They will be assigned a color. They are not to use any towels other than their assigned colors. That way if all their towels are dirty they will have to wash them if they want to shower!

I mean come on! It is not that hard to put some clothes in the washer and then move them to the dryer. Especially towels because I am more than happy to fold them because my kids suck at it!