Under control?

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up

is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. ~Phyllis Diller

I have already had a glimpse of what my summer is going to be like and I’m not having any of it. So when the kids get up today I am laying down the law. It is time for them to realize that Mommy is not here to be their slave. They have got to be responsible for themselves. I have tried in the past but it is a hard thing to accomplish with 4 kids in a house this small. So I have a new plan. I can’t punish one without punishing them all (did I mention that we live in a shoe box?) so I have come up with a new idea. I have lists made up of what they need to do and all of the conditions lined up. For their morning chores I have decided that they will be doing nothing until they are done. The TV will not come on, they will not use the computer or phone and they will not go outside and play. In the evenings they are going to pick up any and all messes they made during the day and do their tasks for helping to clean up after supper or they will not get to do any of the aforementioned things for an extra hour after they get their morning chores done. I hate to punish them all if just one of them is being lazy but I have no other way to do it. I’m hoping they will put enough pressure on each other (without getting too mean about it) that they will each get their things done without making a fuss. I am reliably inconsistent so all of you keep your fingers crossed for me. This is the first of many battles that I will have to fight this summer, I am sure, but if I can get this one thing under control the rest should be much easier.