An Upside of Tweendom

[mango mama]

At 10 ½, Olivia is moving full-steam ahead into tweendom and yes, I often find myself taken aback when I or her brother or Loverman find ourselves face-to-face with one of her seemingly unprovoked funk-isms. Sure, I understand she’s maturing, growing, changing, but like my grandmother used to say… “Miss Thing is really smelling herself these days!”

One unexpected upside of this new and not-so improved Miss Olivia is her desire to earn some extra cash. I’m not one to pay for things she should naturally be doing around the house, but I have agreed to pay her weekly for doing the dinner dishes daily. WOWZA! Yannick, not wanting to be left out, sweeps the kitchen floor when Olivia finishes and for a few brief moments, all is good in the world.

This little perk of growing up and wanting more responsibility has freed up my evenings and allows me to retire to my boudoir with a nice glass of wine in peace.

[Amanda]

This is great! My mom started a rotation for the three of us. Gah, I'm a mom but all my stories are from growing up, just because my stinker is only 3...I pay him in stickers still. Anyway, rotation wise, she had simple chores, vaccuming, keeping up with the dishes, sweeping and mopping, cleaning the bathrooms, feeding and watering the pets. She split them three ways. We each had our chores for a month, we got paid at the end of each week if they were done. weird thing was that she'd give one sweeping and the other mopping, so you couldn't mop until the brother swept....made sure things got done, she didn't have to get on us, we got on each other....there were some fights *rubs the old battle wounds that get sore with the cold weather* but the house always sparkled.

[Rene Syler]

Does she do it every night? I think 10 bucks a week sounds like the going rate. Wait until she comes to negotiate a raise, LOL Good job mommy.. you have found a way to maker her and YOU happy! Enjoy the wine time...

[mango mama]

Olivia's been doing a great job. I'm really picky about the kitchen and I've had to review wiping down the stove with her a few times, but other than that, I'm satisfied. It's been a glorious discovery seeing that she can handle the responsibility and being able to walk away from the kitchen after dinner. I pay her $10 a week... do you think that's too much? My mom and mother-in-law have also endorsed this new chore because they believe this is the only way both kids will learn how to take care of things.

[Rene Syler]

NICE!! Do they do a good job in the kitchen? Cole's been asking the same thing. I think I am going to let them.. what's the going rate for a clean kitchen?