Parenthood

My story for today is a very old one, it’s yesterday, today and tomorrow’s story. I witnessed this story when I was a kid, now I’ve become the key to this story. The name of this story is: The Chore

It’s like a nightmare for all parents and kids.

I have three kids, two girls, and one boy. They became old enough to share us these missions.

My wife and I are both working, and we are the adults in this game! So, we automatically give ourselves the manager’s position, we dictate the kid's tasks, it’s a conspiracy against the kids that we both deep inside in our subconscious agreed with even without any planning and also talking about.

The ploy is to give them the hardest and the most significant chunk of the daily chore,

and if anyone tries to protest or disagree about it, both of us always have the ready alibi which is:

“you should learn how to do it! “

“We already did this when we were in your age, now it’s your turn."

However, we are like the criminals (me and my wife), but we pay a very high price, and the kids give back to us even before they start the chore.

The nightmare starts when we as managers and supervisors begin to distribute the tasks, it’s one of the worst dilemmas, both of the girls wish lady luck to pay her a visit then she can evade from the worst chore ever, the dishwashing.

It’s a shock for the one who has to do the dishwashing, the other girl smiling happily like a fool, my son and I are grinning from ear to ear, how else can we be? I am the manager and my son is a boy and this is girl’s task so by no means it can be our task.

But now we are ready to pay the price; first, she has a shock when she protests then arguing for ten minutes at least to convince us that she is the one who did that yesterday or two times in a row once in the past. This is a real headache than the phase of bargaining then the execution with the loud noise of the dishes hitting each other.

The time of the real revenge is when we are preparing to have guests, the house becomes a whirlwind of activity, and we are all working in a race against the clock. This time the kids start to talk about a deal between them and us, and they begin to ask about money for their chore. They wouldn’t work till we pay, and they start to explain how it’s tough for them and they have a lot of school homework and how this by no means is good work or charity.

At the end we need their help in the remaining time before the visitors come so we surrender to their demands, threaten them that their lives would not be pleasant anymore after that. We pay and, in a flash, they start working and fantasize about how they are going to blow their coming fortune.