Doing Chores

The kids recently made their debut in the duty roster. Each child gets one night a week to help cook dinner. They each get one evening to help do the dishes, which is easy to remember--
D: What day do you cook, Katie?
K: Tuesday.
D: What about you, Scott?
S: Thursday.
D: So, on days that start with 'T' we have kids that cook.
S: Tuesday... and... Tomorrow.

They have always enjoyed helping to cook in the kitchen (especially Katie) so they were more than happy to shoulder some of the workload. Currently, they require quite a bit of assistance to get the job done, but R is sticking with it, reminding herself that it will pay dividends in the future... for us and for them. Here are my notes from one recent evening:

Cooking: Scott got to use a sharp knife to cut tomatoes and lettuce. He thought that was pretty awesome.
Dishes: Katie liked using the scrub brush and generally playing in the water. In the end, she dumped a plate of water on herself.

Scott likes to use minimal water and maximal dish soap when cleaning. He uses 100% cold water to minimize the chance of getting scalded. He announced that he was finished washing a sauce pan, which had an inch of soapy water in the bottom and food caked everywhere else. I suggested that maybe there was still more for him to do, like rinsing and stuff. He said, "Mom told me that the most important thing is that I try my best." Then he left the pan in the sink and departed, pleased with his "best" efforts.

At least he didn't put it off until Tomorrow... or Tuesday.