I was so pleased with myself—I had chores on the board before the boys were even out of bed!
After returning home from my early morning work-out, I headed straight to the office; I diligently reviewed the household tasks and assigned about 12 to each boy.
I printed the lists and happily stuck them on our white board located in our home’s command central.
I was prepared—there would be no computer, no movies, no treats, no Facebook, no friends, no fun, and no food until chores were all completed.
Max was the first one up, and the first thing out of his mouth was “Can I get on the computer?”
I smugly smiled and said “Not until chores are done.
Good morning.”
Max let out an exasperating sigh, grabbed his book, plopped on the couch and started to read.
After reading for about 15 minutes, Max sauntered into my office to borrow my calculator.
He wanted to see where we were at on our “Summer Reading Challenge.”
He diligently started to add the pages.
Dad’s list was the first column; it didn’t take long to accumulate his pages because he has only added one book to the chart.
Taylor and I both have just three books and David has none so Max quickly reached his column.
This took a minute, because Max is our heavyweight reader this summer with eight books listed in his column.
As Max started to elicit sounds of joy, my inner auditor emerged, and I decided to check the numbers myself.
To my dismay, I learned that our family has collectively read 6,874 pages this summer!
How did this happen?
I thought we were still at least 500 pages away from the 6000 page benchmark.
This means “no chores for a week” and another tank of gas for Taylor!
It appears that mom will being doing all the chores this week.
What can I say, a deal is a deal, and I was the “well-meaning” mother that put the “no chores” benchmark on the chart.
Happy Summer Reading!!
Max was the first one up, and the first thing out of his mouth was “Can I get on the computer?” I smugly smiled and said “Not until chores are done. Good morning.” Max let out an exasperating sigh, grabbed his book, plopped on the couch and started to read. After reading for about 15 minutes, Max sauntered into my office to borrow my calculator. He wanted to see where we were at on our “Summer Reading Challenge.” He diligently started to add the pages. Dad’s list was the first column; it didn’t take long to accumulate his pages because he has only added one book to the chart. Taylor and I both have just three books and David has none so Max quickly reached his column. This took a minute, because Max is our heavyweight reader this summer with eight books listed in his column. As Max started to elicit sounds of joy, my inner auditor emerged, and I decided to check the numbers myself. To my dismay, I learned that our family has collectively read 6,874 pages this summer! How did this happen? I thought we were still at least 500 pages away from the 6000 page benchmark. This means “no chores for a week” and another tank of gas for Taylor! It appears that mom will being doing all the chores this week. What can I say, a deal is a deal, and I was the “well-meaning” mother that put the “no chores” benchmark on the chart. Happy Summer Reading!!
