Total Drama House!

Total Drama House

By Allan Olson

It seems like there is always drama at our house. We can’t escape it because the drama is created by our kids, and escaping them is not an option, because they always manage to find us.

The drama is occasionally created by us, because we issue unfair demands on our children. We cause undue and unfair stress on them by asking them to do strenuous tasks, such as cleaning their room. Okay, I admit that is a strenuous task. On some occasions when they start on this project, the toys cover the floor and you would hardly know that there is even carpet in their rooms.

Some of the other horrible tasks we project on our children are things like clearing the table. Does that mean I have to wash it, too, they ask. Frustration builds. Yes, washing the table is included in that.

Why do I have to all the work?

It never fails, whether it’s one kid or all four kids working on the project, each of them thinks the weight of the world is upon their shoulders, and they must shoulder this horrific burden all by themselves.

Empty the dishwasher. Now that should be an easy task – the dishes are all clean. Somehow, that project is also dragged out for what seems like an eternity.

Now, if we say empty the dishwasher and you can go to your friend’s house, or something else they’ve wanted to do, the job gets done with lightning speed.

At our house, we have a food bucket for the waste – another easy job. They need to take the bucket out to the backyard, empty it and bring the bucket back.

For the most part I’ve given up on having Nikolai do this task; apparently it is too much of a dirty job.

One time I asked Abigail to help with this chore. She was in one of her moods (I can’t wait until the teenage mood hits – note the sarcasm) and so I turned to the next available child, Marcus. “I can’t do it alone,” he said. Thankfully, Alivia was nearby to keep me from beating my head against the wall. She gladly complied.

Of course, I made the mistake of rewarding them with a treat that time, and they’ve never let me forget it. “Will I get a treat, or do I get a treat now?” are the common questions from them after the job is done. “No,” is my answer – “you get my thanks.”

So this task has largely become the job for the youngest two. Except for Sunday, when I asked Abigail to do it. She gladly accepted the responsibility, but when I looked out to check on them, she was sitting on her bum in the tall grass, and since she had conned Alivia into going with, Alivia was emptying the garbage for her.

“Why did Alivia empty the garbage?” I asked Abigail when she returned with the bucket. “Because she wanted to,” she said.

I wasn’t going to waste my breath figuring out the logic in this; the garbage was dumped and that’s all that mattered.

I’m not sure if we’ve found a chore that Abigail likes to do, aside from washing dishes, and since we got a dishwasher there has been little of that.

Then there are the usual fits that occur in the house – someone is taking something from another child, or one of the kids (usually always the younger three) are no longer friends with someone, which only lasts for a few minutes.

It just seems that we have way more drama in the house than when I was growing up; of course, I had no sisters, so maybe that was why?

This weekend, I made my “world famous” caramel rolls. All the kids wanted to help.

They had to clean the living room up first, and yes, there was drama then as well, because inevitably someone was always not helping, and I’m relatively certain that Abigail helped the least.

I had 10 loaves to roll out; that meant two for everyone.

I had my two loaves done in a short span, and got everything else ready for completion. I still had to wait for them. Why I didn’t just do them myself and save the wait and the inconvenience of them helping me? I don’t know. Perhaps I wanted more drama?

Thanks for reading, and remember to watch out for the buses. As always, feel free to drop us a line and/or a photo, and have a great week. For more of my columns visit http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com.