Uses for children

I was lucky enough to get a 3-day weekend for the 4th of July. The School that Never Closes not only closed for a holiday, but did so on a day that wasn't even a holiday (Friday, the 3rd). We follow the bank schedule, I think, so thank you to whoever decided the 4th of July warrants a workday off even if it falls on a weekend.

Of course, days off from school invariably lead to that all-too-common whine/question: "Moooooooooom, I'm booooorrrrreeedddddd. What can I dooooooooo?" With that one question, I am transformed into my mother: "You don't have anything to do? Well, *I'll* give you something to do!" Operation Put Them to Work commences.

It used to be that I could count on at least one child to thoroughly enjoy getting to help out with the cleaning. I have proof on my facebook account:



These days, they've wised up. Even Erin will stomp her feet in protest if I so much as ask her to put away her clean laundry. So I've had to get more creative.

First, I tried the "cleaning as punishment" technique. Effective, though the ambiance in the house won't be pleasant. Chris wound up stretching an hour and a half of mandated work time into four hours last weekend--I kept catching him playing around and added more time on each time I found him sprawled out with a book or a handful of Legos. The thorough cleaning of his room turned into a thorough cleaning of nearly the whole house. He still had half an hour to go and I couldn't think of anything else for him to do...until I had a brilliant idea of how to get him to scrub the kitchen floor. I handed him a scrub brush, a bottle of Comet, and a spray bottle of hot water. Spray, sprinkle, scrub, repeat. I had him wipe each section up with a rag as he moved along, and he did so well I'm thinking I'll have the kids do this every week.





This weekend, however, none of the kids had done anything terrible enough to warrant an hour or two of manual labor, so I had to get creative. I wanted to vacuum the rug under our dining table, since it tends to look like we live in the town of Chewandswallow under there. First, I needed the chairs moved out of the way, and after that, someone could get in there with the vacuum. So...I offered Erin a train ride. In the hallway. Using the dining room chairs as seats. It wasn't long before all four chairs had been hauled out of the way, and she was oblivious to the fact that she'd just done me a favor:



Next, I called Chris and asked if he wanted to test out a weapon for me...my new Reverse Air Blaster. Yep, you guessed it:



I didn't get very far with Brian, though. He knew right away what my Reverse Air Blaster really was, and opted to practice transforming into a piece of furniture instead. Here he is, my very own La-Z-Boy:



Don't you love the look he's giving me? The teenage years are not far off. Heaven help me.

Happy 4th, everyone, and remember: it's the adults in this country who are free. The kids are still sentenced to 18 years of servitude. ;)