The worst thing about this snowstorm...

[Anonymous]

I ask everyone to put their dishes in the sink. And then I do the dishes. I don't like how everyone else loads the dishwasher, and I find rinsing them out and handwashing the pots and pans very soothing. My college kid does all of that himself in his dorm, and hasn't suffered from his relative lack of training at home. Dishwashing, laundry, household chores don't exactly have a steep learning curve.

But if you don't have the time to wash dishes, then your kids should be pitching in, of course.
Or helping in other way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I ask everyone to put their dishes in the sink. And then I do the dishes. I don't like how everyone else loads the dishwasher, and I find rinsing them out and handwashing the pots and pans very soothing. My college kid does all of that himself in his dorm, and hasn't suffered from his relative lack of training at home. Dishwashing, laundry, household chores don't exactly have a steep learning curve.

But if you don't have the time to wash dishes, then your kids should be pitching in, of course.
Or helping in other way.

I'm also happy as long as my family brings the dishes to the sink. At the end of the day I load up the dishwasher properly and press "run". Big deal.

[Anonymous]

Do they not help with the dishes the rest of the year?? You need to get on that!!

Each person is responsible for putting their own dirty dishes into the dishwasher. When it’s full, dh or I will run it. When it’s clean the kids each take turns emptying it, and that chore includes filling it with whatever is in the sink when the dishwasher is running and if it’s sitting there clean. That means if you procrastinate emptying the dishwasher well after it’s done, then you’ll have more work putting the sink dishes in.

We have three kids and they just rotate whose turn it is and keep track.

Yes when we are all home at once there are more dishes, but the setup is still the same; it just happens more often.

[Anonymous]

id seal the deal and make your lazy DH do it

[Anonymous]

I hear you OP. I work really hard to keep it moving. The key is starting the day with an empty dishwasher so there is no excuse for throwing your plates/cups in the sink. I get up, empty dishwasher, and then exercise.

[Anonymous]

Who did all the shoveling?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I ask everyone to put their dishes in the sink. And then I do the dishes. I don't like how everyone else loads the dishwasher, and I find rinsing them out and handwashing the pots and pans very soothing. My college kid does all of that himself in his dorm, and hasn't suffered from his relative lack of training at home. Dishwashing, laundry, household chores don't exactly have a steep learning curve.

But if you don't have the time to wash dishes, then your kids should be pitching in, of course.
Or helping in other way.

Opposite here. I can't stand ANYTHING in my sink. It drives me insane. I've taught everyone how to load a dishwasher. I actually stand over my 4 year old and show her what she's doing wrong so she can learn. I do handwash pots and pans of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I ask everyone to put their dishes in the sink. And then I do the dishes. I don't like how everyone else loads the dishwasher, and I find rinsing them out and handwashing the pots and pans very soothing. My college kid does all of that himself in his dorm, and hasn't suffered from his relative lack of training at home. Dishwashing, laundry, household chores don't exactly have a steep learning curve.

But if you don't have the time to wash dishes, then your kids should be pitching in, of course.
Or helping in other way.

Opposite here. I can't stand ANYTHING in my sink. It drives me insane. I've taught everyone how to load a dishwasher. I actually stand over my 4 year old and show her what she's doing wrong so she can learn. I do handwash pots and pans of course.

PP you replied to. I like how we're all different flavors of crazy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to bother them and make them come back to the kitchen and put the dishes in the dishwasher. I interrupted them and didn’t care. It works.

Putting dirty dishes in the sink instead of the dish washer is SO rude.

My mother did that for everything:
toilet paper not put on the roll? call us from our rooms (or tv) to do it
something sitting on the stairs to be taken up was just ignored and stepped over? call us to do it
dishes left in or next to sink? call us down to do it
every single thing not done - call us down to do it.

(my father worked 60-80 hours/week, he was NOT the one doing it, it was my sister and I)

When we were little (Grades K-3) we would come in, get a drink of water, put that on the counter, 30 minutes later, be hot, want a drink, come in and GET A NEW GLASS for water and, yep, that went on the counter (we didn't have a dishwasher then). SO... since we were using plastic cups that were colors, we would choose our color for the day and SO HELP US we would use that glass throughout the entire day. Because having 10 glasses that all had a sip of water in them by 6pm was outrageous when there were only 2 kids! Smart woman!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I routinely yell at DH for not putting his dishes in the dishwasher. He eventually does put the dishes in there, but the kids see him leave out dirty dishes and assume it’s ok for them too. The worst is when I want to start dinner and the sink and counter are filled with dirty dishes, so I then have to do it because, I can’t work with the mess round.

AGREED

[Anonymous]

The overall laziness - not having to get up, catch the school bus, get to soccer, volleyball, music lessons - has made everyone a little lazier. I can’t wait to get back into routine; I’ve put on 5lbs since Sunday 😢

[Anonymous]

Is there a reason that you, as a parent, can not give the children chores and give consequences when they don’t follow through? It’s pretty simple. You even said they are capable of doing it. You are putting a lot of fault on you husband when you are also to blame. Raise children that contribute to the over well being of the family. Enforce consequences when family expectations are not met.

[Anonymous]

Parents: if this week has knocked you sideways
Montgomery County Counseling Center is hosting virtual parent drop in support hour Thursday night. Low‑pressure, not therapy — just a space to exhale after a disruptive week!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/when-school-closures-disrupt-everything-a-parent-support-dropin-tickets-1981811834546?aff=oddtdtcreator

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the DISHES! We are a family of 4 and every time I go into the kitchen there is a new mound of dirty dishes! My kids are tweens and capable of doing dishes and yet...they don't. But the biggest culprit is my husband. I'm tempted to ignore the mess to see if he ever notices and tackles the dishes. When everyone is at school and work, it's obviously much more manageable. I'm over this freaking storm and dreading the forecasts that another snowstorm is coming.

Do you work? I'm trying to figure out if it's more manageable when everyone is at school and work because then there are fewer dishes and/or because you have the time to deal with them. Of course we go through more dishes when everyone is home BUT since everyone knows they have to put their dishes away regardless of how many meals they ate at home that day, it isn't a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I ask everyone to put their dishes in the sink. And then I do the dishes. I don't like how everyone else loads the dishwasher, and I find rinsing them out and handwashing the pots and pans very soothing. My college kid does all of that himself in his dorm, and hasn't suffered from his relative lack of training at home. Dishwashing, laundry, household chores don't exactly have a steep learning curve.

But if you don't have the time to wash dishes, then your kids should be pitching in, of course.
Or helping in other way.

Opposite here. I can't stand ANYTHING in my sink. It drives me insane. I've taught everyone how to load a dishwasher. I actually stand over my 4 year old and show her what she's doing wrong so she can learn. I do handwash pots and pans of course.

We started putting those in the dishwasher a few years ago and it's been life changing.