Don't Assume Anything

This also could be entitled "Assume Nothing" but that's more precise, efficient and to-the-point, none of which describe children and therefore, it bears the longer, aforementioned title.

Earlier today, a few things happened that has lead me to adopt a new philosophy in my motherhood journey. First, C asked for a drink of water. I know this child. He won't take a sippy cup and as he was handing me a specific cup, I put about an inch of water into the bottom. His newest M.O. is to take a drink and then dump the rest on the floor and while this is slightly annoying, I also recognize that it's the main tool by which my floor gets cleaned so I'm rolling with it. So he takes his drink and then does the dump so I hand him a towel and together we clean up the mess. He does an excellent job for a 20 month old. I was impressed. Later, I noticed that yet again, M did not finish cleaning up from his lunch. This is not new. This is a conversation we've had every day for the past...forever, it seems. I say "make sure that you completely clean up from your lunch when you're done." He rolls his eyes and says "OKAYYYY!!! in his 9 1/2 year old way. And then he doesn't do it. I can understand the frustration of being nagged about something that you do perfectly every time but this is something that he does 1/2 of each time. So I try to avoid the call-back and remind him up front that he needs to do it all and yet I still end up calling him back into the kitchen with him yelling "WHAAAAAAT?!?!?!?! just for me to point out that the floor is covered with cheese and beans, the cutting board has clearly not been wiped off (although he insists that he did it...seriously?) and the counter still bears the can opener, spatula and food remenants. His dishes, however, are housed in the dishwasher...I'll give him that.

So I decided today that my new motto is "Don't Assume Anything" which basically means that I need to not assume that any of the children knows how to do any job in the house fully and correctly. I don't mean this in a rude way, I just realized that I assume that the older kids "should" know how to do things and that the babies shouldn't. Maybe I need to assume that they all need a good rundown each time. I think that would certainly be fair for the older boys. Let's face it, they have a lot that they're learning right now from Latin to Math to How to put that new Bionicle together to How you can kill yourself with just about anything (a conversation that he and his all-knowing friend had on speakerphone this morning which was put into the context of "should you kill yourself if you've been captured by the enemy and know that you face horrible torture and then death?" Yep, good 9 year old things to contemplate). I mean, their brain cells are chock full of information and perhaps it's only fair of me to assume that they need a refresher course each time. Sometimes you can look at the 9 yo and see the hormones starting to rage. I know that this is NOTHING compared to what's coming but sometimes it still amazes me. So this is my new motto. I'm trying for patience and right-sized expectations with this and we'll see how it goes. I have a feeling I might be floating in a sea of eye-rolls but maybe they'll be able to look past it to the good intentions I have for all of us....maybe.