Such a Slave-Driver

Last night, when it was time for Keira to get ready for bed, I told her to politely ask Night to pause his game and help her brush her teeth. She sighed and said, "He's just going to say, 'Why do I have to do everything around here?' again."

Well, she was right, he said it, but he was fine with brushing her teeth too. "Everything around here" entails brushing Keira's teeth and occasionally turning the channel to a cartoon for her. Its a pretty good gig.

Tonight as I was cleaning up the dinner dishes (right before Keira's teeth-brushing time), I thought how much I liked this new routine of having Night brush her teeth. She can be quite... um... belligerent when it comes to doing anything brushing her teeth, so Josh and I are both happy to pass off this chore special bonding moment to her big brother. It is also nice because he brushes his teeth at the same time, so it is one less task to deal with before he goes to bed.

So, when I mentioned to both kids that it was just about time for brushing teeth, I was looking forward to the new routine we've begun establishing. (Yes, the routine includes Night's mention about having to do everything around here.) Before getting up, Night calmly told me, "I was thinking that maybe one of you guys could start doing some of the work around here."

(me)"WHAT? Like cooking for you, getting your drinks, washing your clothes, paying your bills?"

(Night)"Bills? I don't have any bills..."

(me)"You think your food is free? You think this cushy air conditioning is free? You have bills. We just pay for them."

(Night)"Well, anyway, do you think that one of you two could brush Keira's teeth and maybe start changing the channels for her?"

(me)"You are right. We shouldn't expect so much from you. We really do need to start helping, don't we?"

(Night)"Yeah."

(me)"Well, you brush tonight and one of us will do it tomorrow."

(Night)"Okay."

Glad he set us straight before the Department of Labor caught us for breaking all those child labor laws.