I Caved
After spending the day working my child to half-death, I think my point had been made. The rest of the punishment has been forgiven. By the end of the day, she was on the verge of tears from exhaustion and soreness. At 9 pm when she still had dishes to wash and laundry to fold, I knew I had accomplished my goal. (I have been given permission to reveal her identity)
Here's a list of what she did during the day:
- Folded and put away three loads of laundry from the previous day (remember we don't have a dryer, so things were drying on the rack overnight)
- Sorted and washed and hung to dry two more loads of laundry
- Prepared a delicious dinner of roasted chicken and potatoes, salad and strawberry cheesecake (Jello brand)
- Three loads in the dishwasher
- Mopped the floor
- Cleaned the loft
- Dusted
- Tidied up the house
- Took garbage to the dumpster
On top of all this, she had to do her schoolwork. And she has a cold which contributed to her misery.
So, like I said, I think she got the point. She has come to a new appreciation of how much work is involved in running a home and family and I don't think she'll be giving me a hard time again any time soon.
I could have made her continue for the full three days, but I'm a big believer in grace. Once I saw that she had a new-found appreciation for my job as the mom, there didn't seem a point to make her do two more days other than just to be punitive. The point wasn't really to punish her, but to have her understand why everyone in the family needs to help out. And trust me, she gets it!
And a big thanks to those of you who went over and visited her new blog. She's having fun with it and all your comments and encouragement are so fun for her.
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6 comments:
I don't think you're weak, for not making her complete her punishment. I think you did what needed to be done. She learned to appreciate what you do. I didn't think it would take too long for her to learn, since that was a lot of work. Yay! to her for doing all those chores. Dinner sounded great!
yay!
I don't think that's weakness. Like you said, it's grace.
I can't imagine where I'd be if God gave me what I deserved.
Thankfully, He's a loving God (like you're a LOVING, NOT WEAK mother) and He forgives.
Awesome lesson!
I think you're a very wise womaan. And your daughter will hate me for this, but the summer between grade 8 and 9 is when the responsibility of housekeeping was transferred to me.
My jobs were laundry, vacuuming, dusting, and cleaning bathrooms once a week. We had a large yard (half garden) and she gave me the choice to work outdoors or in. Since it was summer, I choose the coolness of indoors, foolishly not thinking then that I was volunteering for a year-round job! But that's how it stayed for about the next 12 years ~ until I got married and moved out and had to start looking after my own house.
I thought it was unfair then, but looking back, I see the value in it and will likely expect the same of my girls once they get a little older. And we have a MUCH larger yard than the one I did growing up ~ so it's a good thing I've got two kids instead of just the one, like my parents do! ;)
I tried to comments on Em's blog, but she doesn't have the option for name/URL, so I'll send my comments to your email, Lori.
Ha!~ That is my kind of punishment! Can I just say, had my mom ever punished me with this stuff, I would have been no trouble at all. No one really tells you that this is what grown up life is like. You grow up thinking that it is free of rules and chores, only to find out that you had so much more freedom as a child. Irony.