Why? Because the very thing that was meant to save me time was actually making me busier.
You see, dishwasher stacking is a science. I believe their are PhD's awarded in innovations in Dishwasher Stacking…. so every time the little Freckles tried to load the dishwasher, they inevitably would stack things too close, too far apart, not rinse them or just leave them on the bench. Then I would have to re-stack the dishwasher, if I caught it before it went on, otherwise it would go on and then not be washed properly so I would have to re-wash the unwashed dishes….. Just how I love to spend my day!
So here is the picture. Wake up, get out of bed, put porridge on for the kids, race around trying to wake them all up (one needs to be woken numerous times as I think teenage hood has hit this Freckle at 9!), dish up said porridge, start unpacking the dishes from the night before, baby starts to cry so get up baby and get her breakfast, kids have in this time left their porridge bowls on the bench starting to dry out, I continue to unpack the dishwasher, world war 3 erupts in the bathroom, I go and negotiate peace talks and repatriation conditions, continue to unpack the dishwasher, Freckle #4 tells me that he can't possibly dress himself because he doesn't know how to count backwards from 100 and he needs to work that out and can't do both so could I please help him so he can keep counting, I acquiesce and help Freckle #4 get dressed, I finish unpacking the dishwasher at the same time that Baby Freckle finishes her breakfast (complete with porridge smeared all over her high chair), I clean her up whilst the porridge bowls continue to dry out, I look at the time and realise we have to go in 5 minutes so run around wildly dressing the baby, wiping faces (one slipped through this morning), getting every Freckle to check their "What to take to School Today" Charts, putting on my makeup and then get everyone in the car and off to school.
MEANWHILE…. While I am gone….. the porridge, still sitting in the bowls, turns into a substance that is only known to geologists and parents that is called porridge-glomerate - a mineral like substance that is resistant to removal by anything other than a pick axe or diamond saw. So, when I get home, I pull out my diamond blade and begin chipping off the bits of porridge from the bench and the plates. Honestly, I cry out in my distress, this has to stop!
And stop it has. Now, Freckles their own bowls, plates, luchboxes, you name it! I put the warm water in the sink, they wash dry and put away when they are finished. I do the baby and myself and bliss! No hard porridge to chip away at when I get home from school run…..
The success of this breakfast trial has continued to the afternoons and evenings… each Freckle brings their plates and cutlery to the sink, washes dries and puts away! No charts needed for this one… each is responsible for their own and I do believe the stroke of genius is the drying and putting away. Voila, no dishwasher to unpack!
Confession: I still do use the dishwasher sometimes. For my dishes or for the cooking things at dinner… but no more than once a day.
Now, what to do with all the extra time I have on my hands…. I may just blog about it ;)
Enjoy your dishes, be they porridge free or not,
Felicity xx
Oh I know what you mean with stacking. The kids empty it for me as park of their tasks for the week which helps me.
ReplyDeleteI had that as part of their jobs and then I got sick of them underfoot. Our dishwasher is right in the section of the kitchen where I stand to do everything!!!! Something had to give... and it was me!
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