Now that we have 4 kids, and one of them is close to turning 9, I've started to think in earnest about how I can get my kids to do jobs. The concept of jobs (be they Saturday jobs, KP, or whatever) in the campbell family is as central to our existence as Sunday dinner. Who can forget the strangely satisfying smell of 409 that accompanied a complete wipedown of green/blue island wall on the other side of the kitchen range? Or for that matter, the dread at receiving the worse of the two bathroom jobs (floors and toilets?). I have realized, though, that just as soon as my kids would actually be able to do some of these jobs, they will be rendered nearly useless by the universal rebelliousness and angst of the teenage years. Note that on the handy chart I have provided, the willingness to pitch in asymptotically approaches negative infinity before reaching the age of 12. This leads me to the concept of the sweet spot - a short period of time when the child's real ability is sufficiently positive and they still are willing to do something when asked. The product of the two functions only becomes positive after age 6. This fact was reinforced this week when Asha called me at work: "Guess what Dad? I'm the mom right now. Mama is feeding Quinn, and I just picked up the whole garage, play area, vacuumed everything and made all the beds." If I had been Dad (and been at home), I'd have feigned losing consciousness. As it was, I told her how proud I was of her. I returned home to find that she really had done all those things, and had done a darn fine job to boot. In the interest of full disclosure, I never hit a sweet spot during my childhood. The week that I finally learned to pumice the ring off a toiled bowl was probably the same week I told Mom and Dad that it was fair for them to do more work because they decided to become parents.
The last couple of Saturdays have been shockingly unstructured and laid-back. I have been liberally indulging in a variety of Alton Brown recipes (pizza, shrimp ravioli, pan-fried chicken, man-burgers, pancakes) - we even bought a cast-iron skillet for $30 since Alton said we had to. I don't end up wanting to make everything he does on "good eats", but I will be attempting corned beef as soon as my saltpeter from amazon.com arrives. That's all for now.
7 comments:
Tougher of the two? Are you kidding? You could do floors and toilets in about 30 seconds, and half of that was getting out the pinesol. Basins, tubs, and mirrors involved actual scrubbing, and the mirrors gave it away if you'd done a sloppy job.
I like your sweet spot chart. Joseph and Grant are fast approaching the negative zone.
Good Eats was one of the shows I recorded regularly on the DVR before we ditched our tv service. How did the Alton Brown Pizza dough turn out? I've been meaning to try that one out for a while. His overnight cinnamon rolls are REALLY good. Definitely worth the work. I'm going to try his gyros this week.
I think you refer in an overly long description to "Wash Cupboards Stove Side." My friend Teri, who actually taught her children to work and kept 'em working--hard!--right into the teenage years, asked me to write a "How to Get Your Kids To Work" book with her. Her kids owed (and paid!) her two hours of hard labor each and every non-school (non-sabbath) day of the year. Then she apprenticed them to a salmon boat (see "Deadliest Catch") as a sort of work-ethic finishing school. For the book, she'll provide the expertise and all the "success" examples. I'll provide all the funny failures and ghost write.
Allison - I'm glad you mentioned it. Look up the alton brown pizza recipe on foodnetwork.com before you make it. The dough was a little too salty, and the online recipe has that corrected.
It's a good thing I didn't know about that chart when you were growing up. I'd have been doing the floors and toilets all by myself and wouldn't have had time to do such a great job of raising you.
Mike & I laughed really hard when we saw the chart: loss of hope and the reality of child raising hurts!
Those type A personalities like Caroline & Asha defy the chart: if you can survive the intensity, they are incredible workers! Oh, and I'm with Nig, floors & toilets all the way.
I agree with the chart for the most part, but what about the money part? It seems that as you get older, you get a heftier paycheck.
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