Ellie is, by her own admission, the Queen of No Work. This is how she describes herself, and when she puts her princess tiara on during clean up time then you know that the Queen of No Work is present and she will put nothing away without major drama and upset.
Ellie is also, on the other hand, super helpful and sweet. Ever since Nicholas was born she has been so helpful. Whenever I ask her to grab me a burp cloth or take a nappy out, she puts on a super-sweet voice and says 'Yes, mother!' and dashes off to do it.
Yesterday, she came up to me in the afternoon and told me that she would do anything for me. Anything. She offered to do the dishes, and I said I thought we were ok there. She offered to put the laundry away (the weekly pile was piling up) and I said I'd do it later and she didn't have to worry. So once again she said 'Mum, I'll do anything to help you. Except, I won't clean up.'
Every day before Jeff comes home we blitz the downstairs, mostly so we can actually see the kitchen table and eat dinner at it. Because Ellie spends almost all her free time cutting, gluing, and colouring with every last marker in the house, all of which are strewn all over (and under) the kitchen table, then clean-up time is especially traumatic for her and she hates to put any of it away. Clean-up time invariably descends into me shouting at her to get it done and her screaming and crying at the unfairness of it all.
Yesterday, when I knew that Jeff was on the road home I told the kids it was clean up time. Sadly for me, instead of Ellie's 'yes mother' mood (which I LOVE) she was in full blown Queen of No Work mode. She just looked at me and very matter-of-factly she said 'Now, Mum, we've already talked about this today.'
The fact that I made her still put her markers away, despite the little chat she'd had with me earlier, produced a fairly major tantrum. I just wish I knew how to schedule clean-up time for when 'Yes, mother' Ellie is around. The Queen of No Work is trying my patience!
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5 comments:
Maybe the Queen of No Work should not be allowed to play with her markers or scissors unless agreeing beforehand to tidy up afterwards. And if Mummy has to turn nasty to get her to do it anyways, then they get packed in a box for a week!
(this works for Isaac, though a day without usually suffices)
Good luck with it! Love to you all!
Oh my. It's so funny to read this, but I know it's not funny. I know you have a new baby and that this might cause more grief, but have you tried not letting her have her markers and scissors and such? You know, if you use those things it makes a mess...and if you are the Queen of No Work, then you also have to be the Queen of No Mess. Messes make work, so maybe she should steer clear of making messes? ;) Can't wait to see that new baby!
She's totally going to give you a run for the money! ha ha I usually put on music and dance around or make a game of "clean up" time so that it doesn't seem so "chore like" and its a lot more fun...even for me. I haven't had to yell very much anymore when it comes to that ha ha ha
I love these stories. I really am sorry that they aren't just stories to you and that they're life, but someday you'll look back with fondness, right? I think she's hilarious! :) She dares do/say things I only think and never vocalize.
She is too funny!
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