Begging to Wash the Dishes

Yes, my friends, it’s true. My 8 year-old son Maxwell pleaded with us this morning to wash the dishes. The volume of breakfast dishes is far smaller than for any other meal for our family 6, but we still tried to discourage him, telling him once he starts, he’ll have to do it on a consistent basis, not just when he wants to.

Maxwell is terrific at starting things. He initiated his two current chores, collecting the trash inside the house twice and week and Swiffering under the dinner table, in much the same way as the dish washing episode this morning. In the beginning it was all about initiative and enthusiasm but as the weeks rolled on, and doing his chores began to interfere with his play time, he pretty much lost interest and there’s a fair amount of eye rolling and foot stomping when we remind him to do it. He will argue like a district attorney giving closing arguments on a murder case that he never wanted to collect the trash or Swiffer. Maxwell also suffers from short term memory loss.

It remains to be seen if his interest in dish washing extends beyond this weekend. He has a birthday party to attend today and I suspect he may have been brown nosing a bit to get me to spend a wad of cash on an expensive birthday gift for his friend. Paul suggested that we video tape the next time he pleads for a chore to reinforce his short term memory.