Children; long praised for their boundless desire to help and the great fondness they hold for the doing of chores, can sometimes go overboard when they help. The poor hard working dears delve so fully into helping, seeking extra chores, shunning payment no matter how hard they work, that they often tire themselves out and make mistakes.
Our very own chore seeking child toiled the entire summer. It was a pity to watch him washing, drying, ironing, folding, hanging clothes, towels, bedding...etc.; then the dear simply insisted on putting everything away himself. We would often stand helplessly by and watch him work to weed the yard, plant a garden, do laundry, and make dinner. The sweet hard working teenager would be so frazzled that many an evening we would find him asleep under a cabinet where he had been oiling woodwork. When we noticed the usual perfection in work, slipped to high standards, we sought to have him take a day of rest. Perhaps playing a video game, watching television or simply spending time with friends would help to relieve the tension he was under. He would hear nothing of it! He continued with his rigorous schedule, often working himself into a lather;
Rising before dawn for calisthenics and a short 3 mile run, followed by a 3 mile jog.
Taking a shower, then scrubbing his bathroom top to bottom every day.
Melon and yogurt for breakfast.
Unloading the dishwasher, cleaning the litterbox, washing clothes, windows, walls, mopping the floors, vaccuuming, drying clothes, weeding, landscaping, tending the garden, sneaking to a neighbor's yard to weed and water plants.
Washing up, light lunch of tuna and wheatgrass juice.
Putting dinner on.
Ironing the laundry then folding or hanging it. Putting it away.
Cleaning grout, dusting, oiling woodwork, and wind down chores.
Dinner, followed by another shower.
As is clearly demonstrated, he works so much we have nothing to do ourselves! We noticed, as I mentioned earlier, things were slipping from perfect to high in standards. We observed little things. A glass left on the counter, a few books out of alphabetical order, a wrinkle in a sheet....but most telling, a sharp decline in the number of towels in our linen closet.
Tonight...the night of every young person's dreams, (the eve of back to school) I felt like I should help him make his bed. Imagine my utter shock when I saw over half our family towels creatively stuffed in his linen closet!! I of course immediately tucked him into bed, took his temperature, (it was normal) then applied cool compresses to his brow. While he was distracted darning socks, I quickly whisked some towels to our own linen closet. I desired to spare him the sight of 'fixing a chore'. He caught me and sobbed copious amounts, working himself into a dither. He screamed " why, why, why?" I gently explained that we had no towels and only wanted a few. Poor child had worked himself too hard to notice he had filled his linen closet to bursting with towels!
I put his trembling form gently back in bed. Sleep dear one....for tomorrow is another day....
Our very own chore seeking child toiled the entire summer. It was a pity to watch him washing, drying, ironing, folding, hanging clothes, towels, bedding...etc.; then the dear simply insisted on putting everything away himself. We would often stand helplessly by and watch him work to weed the yard, plant a garden, do laundry, and make dinner. The sweet hard working teenager would be so frazzled that many an evening we would find him asleep under a cabinet where he had been oiling woodwork. When we noticed the usual perfection in work, slipped to high standards, we sought to have him take a day of rest. Perhaps playing a video game, watching television or simply spending time with friends would help to relieve the tension he was under. He would hear nothing of it! He continued with his rigorous schedule, often working himself into a lather;
Rising before dawn for calisthenics and a short 3 mile run, followed by a 3 mile jog.
Taking a shower, then scrubbing his bathroom top to bottom every day.
Melon and yogurt for breakfast.
Unloading the dishwasher, cleaning the litterbox, washing clothes, windows, walls, mopping the floors, vaccuuming, drying clothes, weeding, landscaping, tending the garden, sneaking to a neighbor's yard to weed and water plants.
Washing up, light lunch of tuna and wheatgrass juice.
Putting dinner on.
Ironing the laundry then folding or hanging it. Putting it away.
Cleaning grout, dusting, oiling woodwork, and wind down chores.
Dinner, followed by another shower.
As is clearly demonstrated, he works so much we have nothing to do ourselves! We noticed, as I mentioned earlier, things were slipping from perfect to high in standards. We observed little things. A glass left on the counter, a few books out of alphabetical order, a wrinkle in a sheet....but most telling, a sharp decline in the number of towels in our linen closet.
Tonight...the night of every young person's dreams, (the eve of back to school) I felt like I should help him make his bed. Imagine my utter shock when I saw over half our family towels creatively stuffed in his linen closet!! I of course immediately tucked him into bed, took his temperature, (it was normal) then applied cool compresses to his brow. While he was distracted darning socks, I quickly whisked some towels to our own linen closet. I desired to spare him the sight of 'fixing a chore'. He caught me and sobbed copious amounts, working himself into a dither. He screamed " why, why, why?" I gently explained that we had no towels and only wanted a few. Poor child had worked himself too hard to notice he had filled his linen closet to bursting with towels!
I put his trembling form gently back in bed. Sleep dear one....for tomorrow is another day....
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