Not always happy at our house...

This morning was one of those mornings when the boys were all mad at me & I was just as annoyed with them. After spending several hours playing, I let told them that it was time to help clean up a little. I gave them the choice of picking up the downstairs or cleaning their rooms.

Nate's first response was how unfair it was that he has to clean and how rotten his life is. I take a deep breath to keep from yelling & then proceeded to recount the last two days of activities. After school on Friday Josh had football practice while Jim played baseball with Nate. Friday night has turned into movie and popcorn night, so the boys watched Star Wars Clone Wars & ate popcorn. Saturday the boys woke up to a special breakfast that I cooked, they played baseball games & then we went on a short hike in the afternoon to the bottom of Snoqualmie Falls. Sunday morning the kids woke up & played outside for about 3 hours before they came in to side...that is when I asked them to help. Upon finishing, Nate could really do nothing besides smile sheepishly & say "I guess my life is not that bad, I guess I will pick up the living room for you"

Josh decides that he is going to clean his room. I fully realize that he picks this choice because he figures I will not see him playing instead of cleaning. He was a bit disappointed when I walked upstairs with him & gave him actual tasks to complete in his room...meaning that he had to make measurable progress and could not just play.

Now onto Zach....Zach decides that he is just not going to do anything because he is too tired. I give him a few very simple tasks to complete but he says it is just too much. Instead he picks to sit in a chair until Nate finishes picking up the living room. It would have taken all of 10 minutes to pick up the trains and blocks that I asked him to pickup. Instead he sits in the chair for almost an hour while Nate slowly cleans. During this hour, I gave him MANY opportunities to change his mind but he just wanted to sit. It is not quite as bad as it sounds...Zach was in the room that Nate was cleaning and they were talking & goofing around together a bit but Zach did stay in the chair. Stubburn child when he makes up his mind....