Learning To Do Dishes

I started having my kids do dishes on a regular basis a few months ago.  David does Monday and Thursday, Lizzy is Tuesday and Friday, and Joy does Wednesdays.  By dishes, I mean rinsing and loading the dishwasher with dinner dishes.  I have always handled the hand wash only dishes.

But then I started thinking...Dangerous business, thinking.  I was pretty young when I started doing dishes, except we didn't have a dishwasher.  We had a sponge and a sink full of soapy water.  If I could do dishes by hand, then my kids are definitely old enough to learn how to do all the dishes.

My kids did not agree with me, but I didn't take their opinion into account.

The first time I asked David to wash the easier dishes by hand, he looked at me like I was crazy.  He picked up the sponge and swiped at the dish.  "No, David.  You have to scrub like this."

He tried washing just a small part of each dish.  "David, do you see the food on this side of the dish?  You have to clean the whole thing."

He tried not rinsing.  "David, you have to run the dish under the water to get all the soap off."

I know when I was a kid, I was horrible at dish washing.  I would dip the dish in the soapy water, dip it in the rinse water, and then put it in the dish drainer.  No actual washing involved.  (Of course my mom made me come back and do the job correctly)

But honestly, it made me laugh to see how incompetent David was at dish washing.  And contrary to what my kids may think, doing a poor job will not get them out of the chore.  I will just keep instructing and making them do it all over again until they get it right.

Because I am that mom.  The insane one who makes her kids work.  Or the smart mom who makes her kids work because it means that one day soon I can turn the dish washing completely over to my kids and not have to do it myself.  Wow, wouldn't that be something?!