Doing dishes

Hello all,

You know I am constantly amazed by how quickly children grow. I remeber Judah being a baby and when he was about 5 months old a friend said to me "Diana don't you think he's big enough to turn the car seat around? They only have to stay backwards while their new borns." The funny thing is that it never occured to me that he was big enough yet. Well tonight we had one of "those" experiences again.

Judah is 5, actually he will be 6 in Decemeber. Most children his age earn pocket money every week by doing their jobs around the house. Well it never even occured to me that MY 5 year old would be old enough for chores, let alone pocket money, unill today. We threw out the idea to him that he could earn $2 a week for doing his normal responsibilities without whinging or complainig PLUS a few extra little chores. Here's the catch we gave him though, for every time he brings out the "bad attitude" or cry's for not getting things his way (2 issues we have been having LOTS of problems with recently) he looses 10 cents. He agreed this was fair and so today we started.

Well I must say so far this is the best idea I have had in a very long while!!! We had NO attitude today, and the few time he started to throw a fit he caught himself and pulled it together without us having to say a word. PLUS for the first time he got to be in charge of doing the dishes after dinner, but only the plastic ones. (Unfortuantly for him his mother sells Tupperware so we have a lot of plastic :O) He did them with such a cheerful attitude and was genuinly proud of what he had accomplished. I am so proud of him.

Today was one of those days where he seemed to grow up right before my eyes. All the sudden he had the maturity to have responsibilities and take care of them. I am starting to wonder if some of the attitude was stemming from his need to have a little bit more space. We are still in early days with this new system, but I think that it is just what he needed. So today Judah this post is for you and the hard work you accomplished!!! And to all the rest of you reading thanks for humoring this bragging mum, and if you could be so kind leave a little comment for me to read to Judah to encourage him in his new responsibilities and priveledges. Thanks so much, and I hope you are having a fabulous day!!!

Ps: The pictures are courtesy of Murray's new iPhone, and as you can see in the reflection he is having lots of fun playing with it. :O) TeeHee