Wednesday, July 8, 2009

I Am A Prisoner In My Home

To be more specific, in the kitchen area of my home. It's no one's fault really. It's just a fact that most of my day is spent there. I am getting aggravated by it though. I am not quite sure how to remedy it. I already have "rules" in place regarding dining in the Boring home.

1) This is breakfast/lunch/dinner. There will be no substitutions. There will be no snacks 20 min. after the meal is over. You eat now or wait until the next meal.
2) Everyone gets basically the same food. No special requests unless you are dying or it's your birthday.
3) You don't have to finish everything on your plate but you do have to sit still at the table and behave and eat what you can.
4) No complaining!

These rules may sound harsh but truly, we have a good time at the kitchen table. Like last night, Jarrett announcing that he'd like to be called "Mick" from now on. Great. Makes sense to me.

But, even with these rules, I still find myself in the kitchen for a great majority of the day. The fact that we don't have a dishwasher doesn't help. The kids' meals are on paper plates and that reduces the number of big plates to be washed. And, everyone has one cup to last the day. The boys' sippy cups get rinsed with hot water then refilled. Same with the girls' princess cups. (Oh yes, I forgot to mention that I have one extra child here this summer. My 5 yr. old niece. )

It's just the volume of food to be made and consumed that I think is causing the slow down. Jayce had a friend spend the night. So, at breakfast this morning, I fed 6 kids. That's alot of cereal and juice! Josie ate 3 bowls just herself! Even Jarrett Mick ate 2 bowls and he never eats.

By the time I cleaned the cereal bowls and spoons (because we needed the dishes for lunch!), put a load of laundry in, brushed hair, convinced Jeven that his underwear was indeed on backwards, and settled an argument over who was getting to wear the pink dress up shoes (sorry Jarrett Mick), it was time to start lunch!

One box of mac and cheese, and 4 PBJ sandwiches and 2 pitchers of juice later, it looks like I'm done. For a couple hours at least.

Does anyone else feel like their day is "wasted" in the kitchen? I actually enjoy cooking, it's the cleaning up that gets me down.

3 comments:

  1. I changed my name to Anna when I was around 7 years old. I wouldn't answer to my real name for SIX MONTHS! I hope that Mick's name change is shorter.
    You had me laughing out loud at #2! You are so funny. I love it when my youngest wants a snack 10 minutes after she didn't finish a meal. Kills me!

    I hope your kitchen is nicer than mine. I don't have a dishwasher either. But, since I've been working Oldest Daughter and Middle Daughter do more dishes than I do. So, that's nice.

    Hugs!!

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  2. We have the same meal time rules here! I still spend half of my day feeding children. Once they become teenagerish they eat anything that is not nailed down!!!

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  3. Can you have Jayce and Josie help you in the kitchen? I know it might take longer and things are not perfect, but you could catch a bit of rest. All my kids have certain kitchen duties. Yes, they complain and things aren't perfect, but it sure does help me! And they make lunch about three days a week, too.

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