Fall Lecture Series: Lecture #2

We Are All in This Together: (Or “Why it is NOT JUST Mom’s job to keep the house clean” :

The format of this lecture is a little different. It is a Question and Answer format or Round Table discussion (except that our table is Rectangular, as one bright child will be sure to comment on):

In response to the phrase: “But I didn’t make the mess, why should I have to clean it?”
"If the command comes down from the top (meaning Mom), then it should be obeyed regardless of who made the initial mess.
We are a family and we are all responsible for cleaning the house and keeping it picked up on a DAILY basis. "

"Sometimes, when you are wandering around wondering what you should be doing when Mom has announced it is clean up time, Mom will assign you a more specific job to do such as picking up articles of clothing or pieces of trash. It is not a judgment that you are the perpetrator of the mess, that you are the only one who has discarded dirty socks carelessly nor are you the one who ate all the items of food that generate small wrappers…it is merely a job that someone must do and I have chosen you."

"If we all lived by the philosophy of “I didn’t do it so I don’t have to clean it up” then no one would own up to anything and the house will be heaping over with trash, dirty dishes and laundry. Quite frankly, I have been picking up after you since the day you were born.
We are a family. We live together in this house and we will keep it clean together. It is not just Mom’s job. It is all of our jobs."

"Since you still don’t listen to my good reasons, then I will be forced to say, “You will do it because I am telling you to do it. End of story.”"

Exactly who is “Nobody” and “I don’t know” and why do they keep coming over to our house to leave entrails of debris, chaos and disorderliness in every room?

"Quit inviting these pesky friends! "

"Do you expect me to believe that the legos just walked out of their box and spread themselves all over the living room, the stairs, the dining room table, the kitchen counters and the bathtub all by themselves? "

"I wasn’t born yesterday. "

"Just own up to what you do or clean it up anyway. "

In response to the statement: “So-and-so isn’t working…so I’m not going to.”

"I did not tell “So-and-so” to pick up the backpacks and put them in their cubbies. I told you. And I will have a different job for So-and-so."

"Perhaps So-and-so is choosing to be naughty but you can choose to do as you are told. So-and-so will have a consequence for disobeying and unless you want the consequence too, do your job and don’t worry about who is or is not doing something."

In response to the statement: “Saturday is our day off. We should get to do whatever we want.”

"What, exactly, do you need a day off from?"

"God worked for 6 days and rested on the 7th. Sunday is our day of worship and our day off."

"If we work real hard in the morning, we can have the rest of the day to play. But if you drag this out all day, then that is your consequence."

"Saturday is one of the few days where Mom does not go to work but that does not mean that there are not things that need to be done like grocery shopping and other errands. "

Why does Mom keep saying “This house is a pig sty.”, “I’ve seen cow barns that are cleaner than this.”, and “I don’t want to live in the dump.”?

"Pigs wallow in mud puddles. They are not clean animals. They also eat garbage. We are not pigs. We are people and we do not live in mud or eat garbage but from the looks of things right now, we are living like pigs."

"Even cow barns which are full of big cows that poop a lot are cleaned out fairly regularly or else they smell."

"The dump is where garbage goes to rot and disintegrate. It is full of piles and piles of discarded objects and rotten food. At the moment, the house looks like the dump. "

"It would be nice to come home to a living room that was tidy so that we can sit down and relax and do fun things together. "

A clarification on what is acceptable and what is not in regards to cleanliness of person, house and yard.

"Garbage goes in the trashcan. Notice there is one in just about every room. There is no excuse but pure laziness for leaving your pop tart wrapper on the floor or stuffed in the couch cushions."

"Dishes go in the sink. Don’t hide them behind the couch or set them down on the end table. It takes more effort to hide things than it does to walk them over to where they belong.
Rinse your dishes and stack them neatly. "

"Laundry goes in the laundry basket. There are several of these located upstairs. If you take off your socks or your sweatshirt, take an extra 30 seconds of your precious day to put the item away."

"When you are finished playing, clean up. Clean up is part of playing just as much as playing is part of playing. And if you do this after you are done, there is less to do when it’s time to tidy up."

"Every person needs to bathe, brush their teeth and have clean hands and faces. Get used to it. Without regular bathing, we start to stink and our teeth rot and fall out of our heads and no one wants to be near us. Dirty hands are just plain gross. "