Chores

It always amazes me when kids are doing chores that they take their own sweet time, dawdling all the way. They don't want to be doing the chore - they want to be playing. So why don't they get the chore done quickly and get back to playing?

I was outside a little bit ago and saw all the plums that had dropped to the ground. I came inside and told the kids that there are plums that needed to be picked up. It's their job to do it. Anyway, I know that when I've picked them up myself, it takes maybe five minutes. It will take those kids an hour! They were happily playing in one of the bedrooms (quietly, I might add) but the plums needed to be picked up so our pet doggies don't eat them later. Time is of the essence - we need to leave for swim lessons soon! It'll be interesting to see how many plums they've picked up when I go out to gather the kids up.

"Mom, do you know where my ___ is?"

Every mother has heard this question, I'm sure. Your child asks if you know where X is. Apparently you, as a mom, are supposed to know where your son or daughter left X. The thing is, we have too much going on to have ESP or psychic abilities. I know I certainly have no idea where my 7 year old left his Leapster. He carries it all around the house and usually leaves it somewhere other than his room. In fact, it happens so often (when he leaves things around the house and yard), that we've started throwing things away that belong to him. He has enough stuff anyway and never misses these things at all (and doesn't know we tossed them, nor does he realize they are missing).

This week I have thrown out:

• Two plastic croquet hoops left in the backyard for at least a month
• An assortment of paper items (miscellaneous construction-paper pieces of varying shapes and folding techniques) that were all over his room
• A suction cup
• A pencil left on the couch
• Broken pieces of something of which I know not

However, for some freak reason, I decided to hand over a piece of K'nex and a Lego head that I found in the grass. My young son and I were picking up plums under the tree and I saw these two items. I said, "Here is a K'nex piece," and handed it to him. Then I found the other item and said, "Hey, here's that Lego head you lost," and handed it to him while also telling him to put these things in his pocket so he could (hopefully) remember to put them in his room when he went back into the house. Of course, when it's laundry time, those pockets better be checked (by my other son who does his and his brother's laundry)!