Chores are curriculum!?!?!

I came across this article this morning in my Facebook news feed. Love my news feed.

The Joy of Chores

I bought the Accountable Kids program when we started our school year this year and it has been quite a challenge. It's so simple and straight-forward but I still find that after 2 months I am still nagging James to do chores. He is not even motivated by money to do extra chores. Could he possibly STILL be testing me to see if I will throw up my hands in frustration and just give up??? Never I say! He doesn't yet realize that he gets that tenacious persistence from SOME where. Hmf.

For him, chores are the antithesis of fun and if it's not fun then why even do it. I am here as a reality check for my son. I am the one who is teaching him that life is not always fair, not always fun but it can still be rewarding. I mean, brushing teeth is not super fun but you DO get to keep your teeth. Having your hair shampooed is not always fun but your scalp won't itch or smell bad. And this world is not clothing-optional so getting dressed does in fact mean putting on a top and a bottom AND underwear. Yes, I have to tell him that.

He did almost wear me down last week. I hated that I sounded like a nag so I told him and his Dad (sweet hubby that I love) that I was going to start living like they do. Chores aren't fun??? You are SOOOO right. I'll stop doing them too. I even pulled the Accountable Kids cards off the wall! And to my astonishment, James started to cry! What is that??!?! This doesn't compute. My husband put it back up for me...and James. And I came up with an idea. For every day that he doesn't do his chores on his own, I take a $1 from him. If he's not going to do his chores, I may end up doing them so I should get paid. We also started taking away candy when he exhibits bad behavior. He has TONS of Halloween candy so this is awesome right now. And he does love his candy. James will tell me, "I will punch you in the face" when he doesn't like what I have asked him to do. Horrible, right??? I finally figured where he was hearing that. A kid on one of those Minecraft videos on Youtube says that to an adult. Facepalm! He also likes to smack his fist into his hand and try and give me the stink eye. Seriously. He does this mostly with me. A  mom friend suggested that he feels safe with me and so he tests the limits in a huge way with me. Wow.

Sometimes being the mom is not fun. But we have lovely moments like when James happily helped me separate clothes to be washed and then put them in the washing machine. That was weird...and fun. He likes to sit together with a book. We are doing devotionals everyday now. He needs it. I do too. I found this one and it's short and sweet and made for kids.

I pray for harmony and work hard now for those "smooth and easy days" that Charlotte Mason talks about. We'll get there one day. Soon I hope.