What do you remember about chores?

My children are three-years-old and five-years-old and they have really begun to help around the house. They fold their own laundry, put it away, empty the dishwasher, wash and put the dishes in and also do the hand-dishes.

Sometimes they will argue about who gets to put the dishes in the dishwasher and who gets to wash them. They both like washing them. Sometimes B will not want to do the dishes, so I ask C to do them. Then they both want to do them.

I do not remember wanting to do the dishes that badly. When my brother and I used to do the dishes, the best job was putting the dishes in the dishwasher, not washing them. I was the one who usually got to wash. I am not sure why that is. I am fast at washing dishes now though. We used to have to always wash and dry the hand-dishes. B and C are lucky; they can just let them air dry.

Tonight they needed to empty the dishwasher. It started out well. B got on the stool and C handed the dishes to him. It started to unravel when it was time to put the silverware away. C usually does it and wanted to do it tonight. B decided he was going to, so C decided to have a temper tantrum. I told her she could look at a book while B put the silverware away. It worked until B wanted to look at the book too, instead of putting away the silverware. I told him if he put away half of the silverware he could look at the book. All of the silverware was put away and the book was looked at.

I never knew that people could be so excited about doing chores. I just hope it keeps up. I like having the help. It also helps that their dad helps out around the house too. It shows them how a family should work together.