Sunday 24 April 2022

A simple rule four months in...

We have survived four months without a helper, woohoo!

Following a rubbish bin mess on Friday afternoon, I sat the boys down after dinner, just before giving them their phones - which is always the time when I can get their full attention, heh!

Asked them how it had been so far.

Yang: Good! *quite immediate*
Kai: Good! *after a thought*
Yu: *just listening on*
mf: Good in terms of?
Yang: Food! I like Mama's food better.
mf: How about you, Kai? Good in terms of?
Kai: I also like your food.
Yu: *raising hands*
mf: But Yu doesn't agree...
Yu: Ya, I like Kakak's food...
mf: *.*

Apart from food, they all thought things were the same as before.

Well, no more!

I told them how Kakak used to do the cleaning and cooking, while I did activity books etc with them, but now I had to do everything. So they could not expect me to clean up their food drips, their toys etc. 

mf: Why?
Yang: You're not our servant!
mf: Thank you! Exactly! In fact, I'm the queen and you're my servants! :p

Told them what happened at the rubbish bin. Someone emptied the sharpener into a full bin. So the shavings slid off the plastic bag into the bin itself and onto the floor. I had to stuff the bag properly, remove it, and clean the bin itself, before cleaning up the floor - so I had less time for them.

What could be done instead? Push down the rubbish before using the bin, or just take another bag.

But I could not keep telling them how to do each and every single thing. So they must think how to keep the house clean without cleaning too much.

Gave them the toilet example - instead of chatting away (yes, they do that in the toilet!), look at the toilet bowl and aim properly! Else they have to suffer a disgusting toilet (Yang nodded - he doesn't like disgusting toilets) and I have to spend time cleaning instead of being with them (but Mama must 陪陪 me, me and me!).

Let's see how this goes...

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