"One more thing: Enjoyed the towel plan. Read an article about large families and dirty dishes (family fun magazine). This mom's solution was to pack away all dishes, buy dollar tree clear glass plates, paint names on plates, everyone has one dish (large flat bottom bowl) and washes their own. No more dishwasher. Can't eat if your plate is dirty. Downside was washing dish between courses (dinner, dessert, soup or salad) So here's my Saturday request: how do you handle dishes?"
Well, I have to say that while we were experiencing drainage problems, we were using disposable dishes as much as possible because washing the dishes had become an excruciating chore with whoever was on dishes having to constantly check the level of water in the pail below. More often than not - we experienced an overflow due to the level of water sneaking up on us. Thankfully this is no longer a problem!
I have to admit that the chore of washing the dishes has been a thorn in our family's side for some time. This was due to the tendency of the child on duty for the day ultimately leaving a few dishes behind. This was also my fault. By the end of the day and supper chores time, I am usually quite beat and often do not double check the kitchen so as to ensure that not only all chores have been completed - but have been done thoroughly. This would result in arguments the following day...
Finally the children themselves came up with a solution. They suggested that we make the chores permanent and not constantly revolving. As I mentioned in a previous post, I did not like the idea of the chores being permanent. I want children to experience a variety of chores and then there is the reality that some chores are easier than others. So I compromised and came up with a 3 month revolving list as opposed to a daily revolving list. This semi permanency of the chores has completely eliminated the constant bickering that not properly done or incomplete chores had been causing. I am also finding that children are taking more pride in the areas assigned to them. I imagine because it is evident to themselves they have not done a good job and also realize it is evident to the whole family that, for example, the living room is not swept well - because they did not sweep it well. It has also made it infinitely easier for me to keep track of who is responsible for which chore - which also makes it easier to crack down on sloppy work.
Over all I am happy with this solution and wish we had come up with it sooner. We have tried many ways of encouraging chores to be done well and consistently and this has by far been our best solution.
Thanks for the question Peg! I hope you, and the other readers, enjoyed the response, as well as found it helpful.
Be sure to submit a question you might have about the challenges of parenting a large family - or parenting in general. You can leave it in the comment section or email it directly to me.
Oh, as to the lady who decided to buy one plate and cup per child, I have to wonder what happens if a dish breaks? Did she have some put away as back up or does the kid have to wait and borrow another child's dish until the mum found another dollar dish that would suffice as a bowl/plate. Her idea is quite unique but I know dish breakage would be a definite challenge for us!
2 comments:
What a good subject. Doing dishes has always been a thorn in my side since I was a preteen and made to do dishes while living with my parents. The task wasn't quite as bad when I got married as I started doing some things my way.( Mom insisted on very hot water that would burn my skin and nasty smelling detergent) When my daughter was about thirteen I started having her do the dishes and found that she hated it worse than I ever did. Lucky for her, she only did them a couple months before we found the way financially to move into an area with better schools. The top thing on the list of "must haves" for the new house was a dish washer. Now loading and unloading the dishwasher is nowhere near the hassle that hand washing dishes was. There are some rules though.We only run the dishwasher once a day ( unless we are hosting a big dinner, like Christmas, where we must run the prep dishes before dinner and the dinner dishes after) Anything that doesn't fit must be hand washed.This seems to work great and though we may use a little electricity,research has shown that I use less water than washing by hand and rinsing.
We blessed the dishwasher mightily whenever we had one, but they seemed to be forever breaking down. At first we thought we had exceptionally bad dishwasher karma, but we eventually realized that the poor things were just not prepared to deal with our work-load demands. By the time one had washed the dish before it went to the washer (to prevent baked-on tidbits), and then half re-washed by hand (to get rid of baked-on tidbits).
I have to say, unless I had something particularly fascination that I wanted to do at the same time, I never really minded washing the dishes. When I was little, there was always some drama in my head about the mugs rescuing the tea-spoons (the smallest dishes, and babies of the sink) that it was often half a game.
But it is true how quickly overwhelming the dishes can get with so many people. I am famous for coming home at Christmas and making (delicious!) fancy food that uses every dish, tupperware, and scrap of tinfoil in the house, and then collapsing over the state of the dishes.
That's why they love me. :)
(ps. at 25 I still sometimes pretend that the spatula is a lifeguard and the soup pot in a pool in dire need of maintenance)
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