Just in time for Mother's Day I am working, and by working I mean working HARD on the title of "Meanest Mommy EVER." Its seems fitting.
I have a lot of responsibility. I work full time, I take care of my kids full time. I give them a bath EVERY morning, I fix them breakfast, I get them off to school, I run them around to their activities after school, I fix them dinner, I clean up the mess after dinner, (trust me between Mark and Katie, the vacuum or broom is usually involved, ) I help with homework, I mediate fights, I make sure they live in a clean organized hours, I go to the grocery store so they have food to eat, I cater to their every whim. (ok, that one is my fault.....)
AND I DO LAUNDRY. Now I don't mind laundry. Its a necessary evil, and I do enjoy seeing my kids in clean clothes, and I like sleeping on clean sheets and using a clean towel. What I don't like about doing laundry is washing clothes that are already clean.
Now you may be asking yourself why in the world would I wash clothes that are already clean? Well you see I have a 10 year old daughter who is a fashionista. (My fault, I admit...) Every morning she sorts through her closet in search of the perfect outfit. Without fail something clean, yet chosen not to be worn, ends up on the floor. Then when I instruct her to pick up her room, any clothes on the floor automatically get put into the dirty clothes basket, regardless of their cleanliness. This means on more than on occasion when I have been sorting laundry I have come across clean clothes in the dirty clothes basket. Now by the time they have spent a day or two mixed in with the dirty clothes, they must be washed. This results in a cranky mommy.
So I issued a warning to Lauren, informing her that was not acceptable, and she was old enough to put her clean clothes away. Happened again. Second warning, this time accompanied with the instruction that next time the clothes were mixed she would be doing her own laundry.
Yesterday afternoon I went into her room in search of her sweats for dance. I could not immediately locate them so I checked her dirty clothes basket. What did I find, yep you guessed it, a bunch of clean clothes, mixed in with the dirty clothes. When I picked her up from school she was in a BAD mood so I decided to wait and drop the laundry bomb after dance. Two hours of dance later her mood improved, so I put a damper on that.
As you can see from the picture she is not very happy. I made her do two loads, one light, one dark. She had to hang up her clothes to dry, just like I do, and once they are dry she will be required to fold her clothes and put them away, JUST LIKE I DO.
I figure one of two things will happen, either the clean and dirty clothes will no longer be mixed, or she will be washing her own clothes. Either way I am doing less laundry.
4 comments:
Amen and amen . . . .
Great choice.
College/life prep 101
I think I may need to try this. Even though we wear uniforms to school, my 8 year old still likes to come home and change into something fashionable, and it usually results in many outfit changes, and clean clothes being left on the floor...you get the idea!
I'm all for it!...kids doing their own laundry that is.
Rylee's been doing her own for a while now and Taylee and Treyson do theirs occasionally. A little more training about sorting, where to put the soap and how much is needed. :)
I too HATE washing clean laundry! It makes me VERY crabby.
Everyone needs a mean mother. You go for it.
I remember when your mother put the chest of drawers down stairs by the washer and dryer because her kids wouldn't put their clothes away. Do you remember this?
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