John asked before the start of the school year if he could do dishes every night for $1. I was all over this deal, even though my husband usually does the dishes if I cook. John’s a thirteen-year-old boy, but he’s a Type A personality, so when he agrees to do something it will get done. He’d already figured out how much money this would amount to by the end of the school year and decided it would make a nice dent in the amount of money he needs to earn to buy the gaming desktop his older brother agreed to build for him.
But you know how sometimes there aren’t quite enough dishes to start the dishwasher, and sometimes there are too many dishes to fit into one load? That’s where his Type A tendencies tend to make things frustrating. Doing dishes is usually the thing he does last before going to bed, so I’m often already in my bedroom reading by the time any dishwasher issues come up.
Hence, this sign that I found dangling in the kitchen doorway one morning:
And this sight on the kitchen island:
And this note on the computer, just in case I’d missed the note dangling at my eye level (about six inches lower than his) or the dishes where I normally pour my glass of iced coffee. (The child obviously knows my routine)
Being a Type A personality myself, it was hard, really hard, not to empty the dishwasher and load those rinsed dishes in while he was in school, but I walked past them all day, put my coffee glass and sandwich plate in the sink as instructed, and waited for him to get home from school.
John was a man of his word, and unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher as soon as he got home, and we are now back on track dishwasher-wise. It should be interesting what the next few years bring as I try to deal with a teen whose personality is perhaps a little too much like mine 
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
This. Is. Awesome. I think I love that kid
He has a four-day weekend. I could drive him to your house and you can get a taste of things to come. Just don’t cut his hair
Ahem. You created this ….