Mommy's (not so) Little Helpers

Now that my girls are 10 and 13, they are taking on more responsibilities around the house.  One of their chores is to do the dishes every night.  I figure this is fair, since I'm the one doing the majority of the cooking.  Doing the dishes includes clearing and wiping the table, putting away leftovers, hand washing any dishes that don't fit in the dishwasher, and wiping counters and stove.

M & A working in the kitchen.  Kirbee is helping by keeping the floor clean of food crumbs.

When I do this, I can usually get it finished in 20-30 minutes, tops.

When they do it?  At least an hour.

These girls.... these girls are SO distractible, and they mostly distract each other.  Tonight, Molly is playing music from her phone, so every time the song changes, she has to adjust the volume or tell me a story about the songs.  Abby, as you can see, is listening to her own music and occasionally stops to do a little dance.

My favorite nights are the nights they decide to sing camp songs while they do dishes.  I get a glimpse into their lives at camp, where one of the jobs is in fact kitchen crew, cleaning up after dinner.  While they sing the songs, they also share their memories of their camp friends and all of the fun they have at Camp Woodbrooke.  When they return home from camp, they are full of stories, eager to tell us about everything the did at camp, however it is over these winter months when they get into the details and the stories are told not in a rush, but with a feeling of nostalgia and a desire to return again the next summer.

So even though it can take my girls two to three times longer to clean the kitchen than if I did it myself, I don't mind.  I'll continue to eavesdrop and enjoy the stories and jokes they tell each other.

I wonder if they realize that while they are sharing memories they are also creating them.