Chores...

While vacationing this summer with friends, the mom-friend mentioned that her daughter had recently started earning an allowance. She also mentioned that she saw on Oprah (or an Oprahesqe show) that the appropriate amount of allowance was the exact grade that your child is in, for me this was in one ear and out the other- chores mean a task that I can't just do on my own and I would have to go through the painful process of training, reminding and supervising the chores... I rather do it myself.

Upon returning my loving and caring husband took it upon himself to sit Jack (the child who can barely brush his own teeth) down and to tell him that he would from now on be responsible for doing certain things around the house. The first job would be to load and unload the dishwasher.
*** FYI- my kitchen was built for me (all 5'11'' of me) while I don't have to stand on step stool or even my tippee toes most would consider my kitchen giant sized and impossible.
So the task was given, a job that usually takes me about 10-15 minutes to complete now takes about 30. My good knives have the oxidized dishwasher look. I am never sure if my fork is clean or dirty because he load and unloads at the same time. The icing on the cake is $10 weekly allowance... no my son is not in the tenth grade.

For about a week now Abby (the messmaker) has been requesting that she also be give some chores ( I know it is because she is hoping for the $10 payday like her brother's). She has requested dusting and vacuuming, the problem is we never have made it to the point where she can do those things because she ALWAYS has a mess in at least 2 rooms of the house. Here is the evidence-



Room #1- The Kitchen-
How many times does a mom have to trip over backpack?



Room #2- The Game Room-
This was created in the 25 minutes I was working out this afternoon. 



Room #3- The Princesses domain-
A poor illustration of the mess that is usually Abby's room.

Lord help me. I JUST cleaned the house yesterday! I can't wait to see the allowance that this child negotiates. Am I the only parent whose kids gets ridiculous amounts of money for stressing out their mother?