The 8 yr old & the 10 yr old were bickering & fighting all afternoon. They lost their computer privileges for a week, but didn't stop the fighting. Their Grandmother was with them & told them to go to their rooms. The 8 yr old did as she was told, taking her 3 yr old sister with her to play. But the 10 yr old felt the need to be defiant...he refused.
The usual punishments of grounding or taking things away don't seem to be enough to deter misbehavior & defiance in the 10 yr old anymore, so a new punishment was needed. Hmmm, how to impress on him that listening to authority is THE most important of household rules? Well, we decided that it was time for him to learn a new chore. He has had the responsibility of unloading the dishwasher for almost 2 yrs. Tonight he learned to LOAD the dishwasher. He put everything in & then I showed him how to rearrange a few pieces to their appropriate places. His only complaint was that the dirty dishes were slimy...he threw quite a fit about the sliminess, so we decided that he also needed to learn to wash dishes by hand. First he had to take all the dirty dishes out of the sink & stack them, then he had to learn about getting the water to the best temperature, how much soap to put in the sink. He washed the dishes, rinsed the dishes, dried them & put them away. He declared it to be a "fun" chore. Since he likes it so much, he will be keeping it for a while. I guess we'll see if he still considers it fun in a few weeks.
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