I'm trying to take advantage of this prolonged period of Lockdown Togetherness with my kids (yay!) to teach them life-skills. Nothing extraordinary, just how to make a bolognese sauce, pick things up from where they dropped them, putting the breakfast bowl inside the dishwasher instead of on the worktop above it. So yesterday, after one of the boys had (on request) put a load of clothes in the wash...
Me: Can you empty the washing machine, please?
Boy: Me?
Me: Yes, you.
Five minutes later...
Me: You know you emptied the washing machine...
Boy: Yes?
Me: And now the damp clothes are sitting in the laundry basket on the floor in front of the machine?
Boy: Me?
Me: Yes, you.
Five minutes later...
Me: You know you emptied the washing machine...
Boy: Yes?
Me: And now the damp clothes are sitting in the laundry basket on the floor in front of the machine?
Boy: Yes?
Me: Now, you need to actually hang the clothes up to dry.
Boy: Me?
Me: Yes, you.
Boy: But I put them in the machine.
I look at him blankly.
Boy: And I took them out.
Me: And...?
Boy: And now they need to be hung up?
Me: Who'd have thought it?
Boy: But why?
Me: Well, because, if laundry isn't hung up, it won't dry properly. So the clothes will smell.
Boy: No, I meant, why me?
I look at Boy. He looks at me. Luckily - for him - I don't need to say out loud what I'm thinking. (Although, if you're interested, it involves the total number of washes I have put on, taken out of the machine, hung up to dry, and then put away since he was born. Yes, I have done that maths. That's what Lockdown does to a person.)
Boy: Me?
Me: Yes, you.
Boy: But I put them in the machine.
I look at him blankly.
Boy: And I took them out.
Me: And...?
Boy: And now they need to be hung up?
Me: Who'd have thought it?
Boy: But why?
Me: Well, because, if laundry isn't hung up, it won't dry properly. So the clothes will smell.
Boy: No, I meant, why me?
I look at Boy. He looks at me. Luckily - for him - I don't need to say out loud what I'm thinking. (Although, if you're interested, it involves the total number of washes I have put on, taken out of the machine, hung up to dry, and then put away since he was born. Yes, I have done that maths. That's what Lockdown does to a person.)
He takes the clothes basket and and goes to hang up the laundry.
Mine has a simple solution to avoiding the above scenario with me. He's moved in with his girlfriend. She reports that he's being "really helpful". Sigh.
ReplyDeleteNooo! The audacity of it! (I hope his gf is giving you full credit!)
DeleteYou try and try to teach them Life Skills and they resist and resist. Until they move into their own apartment and figure out pretty quickly that ALL of it is on their shoulders now. And you will receive random calls/texts about just how DO you do x, y, or z...
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I may find my phone has run out of charge after the first couple of calls... ;) (as if - I'll just be delighted they're calling, I imagine!)
Delete