Week before last we had an out of town guest. Roughly five days before his arrival, I told my nine year old daughter I would need her help getting the house ready. I made plans to wash the windows, scrub floors, and do a lot of general spring cleaning. Plus, she would be bunking with her brother while our guest slept in her bed, so I wanted her to straighten up her bedroom.
By the end of the five days, I had done all of the cleaning…even her room. I gave up and told her the only thing left to do was to put a few things away. By the time our guest arrived, she hadn’t helped with that either.
So, I had to shake my head in disbelief when last week she asked if she could go to school early every, single day to, “help her teacher clean”.
I want to know what they are putting in that classroom dust.
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Ashley
Ha! I wonder who else volunteered to go in early to clean…maybe its the who and not the what.
Jodi
Oh…no she din’t!
LiteralDan
Now that there’s no more time pressure, I think you ought to have that kid do a Deep Clean of the entire house.
That’ll make her think twice next time and take you seriously.
You should be behind her the whole time cracking the whip. And don’t let her have the privilege of cleaning at the school until your house is clean enough. Demand some concessions– leverage your position.
Moohohohahhahahaaaaa
Now I can’t wait till my kids get bigger
Kiki
Oh, I hear ya!
Mr Lady
My brother had this Chemistry teacher in 10th grade that was really great with the “problem” kids, and had them all into learning again. He taught them how to make little bomb-thingies, which sounds bad, but really, it just made them want to come to school every day (and blow up our kitchen. Different story, different day.)
This group of kids started going to school early and coming home late to work with Cool Teacher. He even had them all over to his house one weekend day to help him move some furniture.
They Loved Him.
And then my little brother discovered the ginormous porn stash in the attic, and the address label on every stinking mag said Cool Teacher.
That didn’t help you at all, did it?
Lisa
I’d like some of that dust too 🙂
MommyTime
See, getting picked to stay at school to help the teacher is an Honor. If cleaning at home were an Honor, she’d want to do it too.
I managed to get Son all excited to clean yesterday with the promise of Girl Scout Cookies. Daddy was upstairs putting the baby to bed. When we finished (it took a solid 1/2 hour, and Son is only four, and he helped considerably) cleaning and sorting the toys in the family room, Son got two cookies as a reward. “What about Daddy?” he asked. “Daddy didn’t clean, so he doesn’t get cookies,” I replied. (Daddy is on a diet, but Son doesn’t know that.) Son’s eyes sparkled. “And,” I said, “we still have lots of cookies left. So every night we are going to have a cleaning project, and whoever helps the most gets TWO cookies when we are done.” He could hardly wait to go to bed so that he could wake up and it would be tomorrow and he could clean again.
Oh, yes, I’m not above bribery. Perhaps there is a version of this that would work for a nine year old?
Tara R.
If you find out the secret you have to share… YOU. MUST. SHARE!
Misty
My daughter likes to help my mother in law clean… or go to my sisters and help her.
She won’t do crap around here…
And they don’t pay her, where as she can earn allowance here.
I don’t get it.
Xbox4NappyRash
awww bless her wee cotton socks…
Heather
Maybe next time the teacher can assign the cleaning as home work.
holly
SOLUTION : invite teacher to your house. ask her to ask your daughter for help cleaning it.
thank you that will be $100.
ah yes now i see heather above has had a similar idea but i believe mine to be more effective. no harm on heather. one need only look at how your daughter does homework to see if her solution would work…
meleah rebeccah
when you find out please let me know
Redneck Mommy
Like the others, I want to know too.
And see if you can find out the secret to getting them to pay attention, be polite and some what cooperative, will ya?
Jaina
Haha, I like Holly’s suggestion…
Jo Beaufoix
Miss E tidies the living room every night to get her pocket money, but I will not bribe her to tidy her own room. I just tell her she can’t have friends round if her room is messy. Sometimes it actually works…
Michael C
I’m thinking chocolate…or money.
AlisonH
It is always more fun to clean someone else’s space so they can think how incredibly cool you are for doing something they’d rather not do, than to clean your own. Not sure how to bottle that can-do for the home market.
Melisa
It’s called “chalk”. 🙂
Maybe you should get a blackboard.
(OMG, am I dating myself? Are there even blackboards out there anymore? Some schools have whiteboards with the markers…)
Bec
Bunnies and candy
Jacque
LOL, these days I think its the fume from the markers. My 9 yr. old stayed the night with my sister and apparently helped fold laundry and do dishes. What????
Kimmylyn
I have to agree..it is more fun to clean someone elses mess!!
LaskiGal
Yeah, no kidding. You could market it and make millions.
Maureen
Oh, yeah. I would always hear from daughter’s teachers how much she helped out in class.
But at home? No way. Those teachers must have gotten her mixed up with a different student, obviously…
Dapoppins
I guess the house cleaning is always fun when they are four.
NOTE TO SELF: give the kids more chores.
Rhea
Some of those teachers really have the magic touch, and know how to get the kids interested in doing things. We have an awesome kindergarten teacher this year who is SO good with the kids. I’m amazed at the way she controls that classroom but is so loving and sweet too. I’m impressed with a good teacher…and I do not have the patience to do it myself!
soapbox mom
Ah, no! What’s up with that?!
It’s probably just that there are way more fun things to do at your house than there are at school (?) so she’s distracted by (and drawn to) all those other fun toys, games, playmates, etc.
Maybe??
😉
Candace
My daughter will do anything for somebody else.