Window of opportunity 😃

family, Funny, humor, humour, kids, Uncategorized, ,

Children and household chores, what a bloody palaver.  If you are giving them pocket money they need to do something to earn it – it’s drummed in to them that you don’t get something for nothing in this world.

You know when children are small and all they want to do is help Mommy – it’s such a bloody pain at times.  You know you must let them help but quite frankly you also know they are just going to make a bloody mess, which will take you twice as long to clear up 😜

For example Lana took it upon herself to wash up – what a sweetie and what a mess!  Half a bottle of washing up liquid later, bubbles up to the ceiling – all over the kitchen floor and us tasting Fairy Liquid in our tea for a week.  She then progressed to emptying the dishwasher – that should be fool-proof I thought, till I saw her take the dishes out of the dishwasher and lay them all neatly on the kitchen floor, amongst the dog and cat hairs and last weeks crumbs 😁

But things are looking up!  My beautiful sassy 3rd born daughter, who is 11 this year, has just reached that stage where she is old enough to do a job properly and is just at that stage – before puberty and attitude – where she genuinely wants to learn how to cook (she’s on a loser there with me teaching her) she also wants to do the ironing, she didn’t even finish that sentence and I had the ironing board up and basket(s) of washing ready for her 😃

I know this is a once in a childhood thing – that little window of opportunity where you only have a limited time to teach them all those household chores that every child needs to know – before they’re slamming doors and not wanting to even talk to you anymore.

Tonight I will teach her to sew – because her little sister has 3 cub badges that need putting on her uniform 😄

Tomorrow I will teach her to cook dinner because I’m going out for the evening 😄

Oh the opportunities are endless!

I’m going to enjoy the next few weeks 😄 unless of course her window of opportunity finishes by the end of this week 😄

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26 thoughts on “Window of opportunity 😃”

  1. When my two older ones where still little, they used to help a lot (without whinging). They even went shopping for me, when I was ill!
    Nowadays… my daughter turned 13 yesterday and she is a pain in the ass (sorry but it’s true)!
    My son on the other hand will have an immaculate household once he moved out!!!

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      1. My sister was very untidy until she moved out. Her flat is always clean… but then again, maybe it is because of her boyfriend, sure he plays the “cleaning-fairy”…

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      2. I just think it’s incredible that young people boys and girls leave home for college or university without knowing how to use a washing machine or how to cook a basic meal. Both me and my sister were taught the basics as teenagers. We didn’t have a washing machine and from the age of 13 were hand washing all our own clothes – bloody hell I sound like my mother 😁

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      3. Dean and Dana (13 + 14) know how to wash…and they are also able to turn the dishwasher on… they know how to make smoothies and can cook with me giving orders from the computer!

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      5. Mission accomplished. Like how those supposedly negative qualities were spun into gold? Fathers learn how to do that with their daughters.. and daughters need to hear that. Husbands need to look at their wife the same way!

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  3. Ha! My mom always said she had until we were 12 to teach us everything that was absolutely VITAL because after that we wouldn’t want to have anything to do with her. Pretty much turned out to be the case! LOL

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  5. I always try to think what it was like for me when I was a boy (I might need to define that.. there are many who say that I still am a boy) when relating to my children. That can be a challenge. I remember myself as a boy who always wanted to help, as well as a being a son who was expected to help. Times have changed since then, especially in the suburban baby boomer culture, where we have tried to make things better for our children than it was for us. That has translated to less responsibility, more entitlement for many children. My kids have not been expected to contribute as much as they have been encouraged to consume. That makes me sad.

    I mowed the lawn, helped with the grocery shopping, swept the floors, dried the dishes, set the table for dinner, groomed the dog, made my own bed, put away my own clothes, etc. at a very young age. When I reached my teen years, my overworked mother of three boys decided that we also would be washing our own clothes, cleaning our bathroom, cooking some of our own meals. It translated well into our adult years and we three boys cook, clean, wash clothes and share household duties with our wives. All three of us took some time getting to that point when we were single, but all three of us cooked because we like to eat.. and thanked our mother for teaching us to cook.

    I used my cleaning skills to attract women when I was single. You don’t know how much of a turn on that was. “I clean house” was my most effective pick up line.

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    1. Your mom taught you well and its nice to hear that you continue to do so much around the home now. A lot of men tend to stop once they have a wife. The only time I didn’t work was whilst on maternity leave, at that time I didn’t expect Jeff to do much about the house but once back at work it has to be a shared load – he pretended once he couldn’t remember how to do boiled eggs 😁 he soon learnt.

      Both my sons are good about the house – I want them to make good partners/husbands – your mom did good x

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  8. You are starting too late, my son hoovers, does the washing machine and also the washing up.

    At least this is what I keep thinking 😉 he did try and clean the counter wish fairy liquid, he broke the hoover with hoovering up his lego and god knows what he did with the washing machine

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