Slave Labor

About a month ago David and I decided that Madi needed to start doing chores. Not like extensive chores, but daily things that help us out and keep her accountable. Some people think I’m pushing it, I mean she is only three, but I really feel like she needs to make contributions to the family and household. Maybe I should clarify so I don’t sound like a slave driver.

Madi’s daily chores are as follows:

Clean up toys downstairs and in bedroom

Feed Indiana

Brush teeth

Clear and wipe table after dinner

Clean bath toys after bath

So if Madi completes each task she gets a star on her star chart and if she gets all her stars then she gets a penny. I know cheap skate! But to her a penny is a “piggy” because it goes in the Piggy bank, she doesn’t understand the monetary value of it yet, so while we can we are trying to make the chores a habit without giving a three year old ridiculous amounts of money. I should add that at the end of every week if she has earned all her stars then she does get an additional dollar. Anyhow…

My point in sharing this is that the other day the most amazing thing happened, it was funny too which makes it that much more fun to tell you all about.

While I get breakfast ready Madi’s jobs are to let Indiana out, feed him and get his treat. Our dog usually only eats 2 cups of food per day, so when I continued to hear the sound of food being dumped into his bowl I had to ask what on earth she was doing.

“Madi, why are you putting more than one cup of food in his bowl?” I ask.

Her little head slyly pops up on the other side of the breakfast bar, and she responds, “If I fill his bowl ALL the way to the top then I won’t have to feed him again tonight.” She said it in a way that was sneaky but also like “I’ve just thought of the most ingenious way to save myself time!”

I was so proud of her. I should state that our dog isn’t the type to just gorge himself, he will eat what he wants then leave the rest for later, so I didn’t have to worry about him overeating. But I was really just beaming with joy…wow the chores are paying off! This was part of our point in having her take some responsibility, by sort of forcing her to do things she has to think of better and easier ways to get those things done.

I’ve decided that now when she does her chores and they aren’t quite to my standards, I’m going to focus on the outcome and not the method, I’m going to let her figure things out and use her noggin, because earning the “piggy” isn’t the real goal, it is training her to be a thinking and valuable member of our society.

So until my dog has gained an extra ten pounds I’m going to look the other way as she over fills his bowl, because I want to nurture the fact that she thought through the process and came up with a great idea to be more efficient.

Now if only our government thought like a three year old! (If I don’t have this baby this week maybe my next rant will be on that!)