Yesterday on Nicole's first full day back she was pretty tired. She was suffering a bit of jet lag I believe so I didn't make her do much. She donned her bathing suit, as I did mine , and we gave the dogs a bath, and played under the hose for a bit. Then she helped me do very minor stuff around the house. Mainly after her shower, she put her jammies back on and stayed that way the rest of the day.
Today I told her she was going to have to get off her butt, empty her suitcase, wash what needed to be washed and put away what wasn't dirty. She is at the age where she is starting to be able to do laundry by herself, and she can cook scrambled eggs, sloppy joes, mix a meatloaf and make pancakes ( all under my supervision- but I only step in if shes about to dump the meatloaf on the floor or burn something...).
She told me she was going to do her own laundry. I said fine go ahead , but if you need help just ask. I even heard the washer stop and went to put a load of her stuff in the dryer for her.
It was a very small load of laundry. A little while later I heard the washer going again. I asked her what was in there. She told me it was her tide-eyed shirt from camp and had to be washed separately. I thought okies, probably because it hadn't been washed since it was tied-eyed at camp and she didn't want to get paint all over other things.
About an hour later I saw her go in the laundry room and again I heard the washer being started. I asked her what she was washing now. I told her that I knew her aunt had washed some of her stuff so she couldn't possibly have that much laundry.
Her reply? Well mom, some stuff said to be washed in cold, some on hot...
me: ok, so did you put the other stuff that needed to be washed in there with your stuff?
her: what other stuff?
me: The other laundry... you know , the stuff in the dirty clothes basket...
her: well, um , no
me: ( trying to not be mad at her because technically she did the RIGHT thing), ok, but no more ok honey? because now I have to use yet more water tomorrow and wash all the things that could have gone in with your things... And I don't want to go in there to start a load and find I have no soap when I still had half a bottle Monday ...
So, at least now she knows that when she has small loads, she is to go looking or ASK me if there are other things to be washed. I had just done all the laundry Monday, so there wasn't that much to do , but still...
hopefully she will have learned a small , yet very powerful, laundry lesson.
Also, I can't remember who's blog I saw this mentioned on but since Nicole is having a bit of trouble with her multiplication tables and we are working on them this summer before she goes back to 4th grade, I got her on multiplication.com.
It has a game called Times Attackz, that is free to download and does 2-12s.
It is like a video game, where she has to kill and ogre by getting all the answers right. Its pretty cool , and not at all scary. If you happen to get one wrong , the troll or ogre pushes you down with his club. Not scary at all. If you have kids in the 8-10 range, try it .
Have a great day !
8 comments:
Im proud of you that you "let her do her own laundry"...Kids need to be taught "Work Ethic's" and how to take care of "themselves" especially her being a girl! So many young kids, seem like everyone owe's them something, and don't wanna work, just lay around...Im so proud of YOU!
Wow Thanks Allison! That made me feel like I just may be doing something right with her:))
It made me smile!
Now she knows and actually was the best way to learn.
ok, on the other end of the spectrum, I have a B- O - Y that when he goes to do his own laundry, does NOT read labels, sort colors, much less cares about what temperature. He picks SANITARY everytime! Note: this cycle takes over an HOUR and who knows how much water. His reasoning, ALL his clothes need to be sanitary, so why separate. Ahh, to think like an 11 year old!
Can you send her over here when she's done??? I have TONS of laundry and soap just waiting ;)
Thanks for your visit to my blog. I wanted to answer your question on neuropathy. I have peripheral neuropathy from long-term diabetes (40 years), mostly it affects my legs/feet and my digestion. I lost a limb (foot) several years ago due to Charcot and it's complications. It's been tough. I have heard of your type of neuropathy and I know it's not easy to live with. I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Take care.
We love that website! It's helped Sarah with her times tables too. Gotta love when the kids can start helping more but it usually isn't all that helpful at first, lol! Sounds like she did a great job of not dying everything in the wash!
My son will take stuff I have in the dryer and throw it on the floor so he can put his stuff in. He's lucky he's alive.
Oooo I'm impressed you let her do it so much on your own. I'd probably make my wee ones put their piles in front of the laundry and ensure I agreed with their sorting technique ;) I work with them on it now where I ask them to give me all the X to put in the machine... they think it's a fun game. For now.
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