Chores

Gee Whiz (MSW) - a lovely little swearword dating back to the 1950's.  The meaning of which I am not sure, but I know some other word, one a little less "nice," could be used.

It's a beautiful Saturday morning here in Utah.  And we, like every other American Family, are doing chores.  Ah, the life of a child and their chores.  Every one in our house has an assigned chore for Saturday.  And 98% of the time, they actually get done.  The other 2% of the time is when we have other things going on, like yard sales, cross country events, soccer/football games.

The funny thing is, when I tell the kids to get their chores done, they look at me like I'm from another planet.  What, what does that mean?  What are you talking about?  I've never heard that word or phrase ever before in my life!  Really?!  Every Saturday morning it's the same.  They look at me like I'm crazy and I bug them to get them done.  If the day is going well, the work is done before noon.  If the day is going poorly, they never get done or not until bedtime.  I keep trying to tell the kids that if we work hard for a few hours, we can play hard afterwards.  They apparently don't understand English very well.

I've tried bribes when the kids were little.  Here's the trouble with that.  When the kids were 2-3, the bribe would be a gumball, or a nickel.  It just doesn't work with a 15 or 16 year old.  They say stuff, like "How about those true religion jeans that cost $300?" or "How about a new car?"  Yep, bribing the kids is a thing of the past.

Now it is threat of torture.  "If you don't get that room clean by noon today, I will get on your Facebook account and tell everyone how much you love your mother.  How beautiful and hot she is.  If you don't clean up all the water bottles and plates in the basement, your driver's license is gone for 5 days."  Torture usually does work.  Remember that for future reference!


Now, the smaller kids, torture and bribes just don't cut it anymore.  Gee whiz kids, just get your chores done so you can play!