I'll do my best to keep this brief because the subject of emptying or loading the dishwasher is, in my house at least, a MASSIVE flash point for parental rage and teenage moodiness!
SO for more years than I care to imagine, sharing the loading and unloading of the dishwasher has been part of family 'law' - I do NOT, contrary to popular belief, have 'slave' tattooed on my forehead (along with mug, skivvy, taxi, please just abuse me in any and every way you see fit! No, honestly, I don't!) but somehow the job still seems to fall to me unless I directly order someone else to do it.
I've heard some fabulous excuses as to why either child hadn't fulfilled their dishwasher duties but, by far, the most common one was/still is, "I didn't know it was clean!" or, "I thought it was clean!" depending on whether the particular child being hauled over the coals was supposed to empty or load it *growl*
And don't EVEN get me started on incorrect stacking technique that means nothing washes properly and has to be done my hand because all the gritty bits and pieces have been baked onto everything during the drying cycle.
The simple answer, of course, would just be to do it myself but that teaches kids nothing other than how to be lazy toads, they are quite proficient in that already without any additional reinforcement from me!
If you're having the same battle then these two dishwasher delegation parent hacks might offer some salvation from years of future madness and nagging (I can only hope):
- Make a little sign - one half reading clean and the other dirty, attach it to your dishwasher with a magnet and spin it round when dirty dishes are welcome or when clean dishes need to be put away.
- (I really like this one) Get a small glass jar and put in the front corner of the top basket - when the jar is empty the dishes are still dirty, when it's full of water the dishes are clean
GOOD LUCK if you, too, aren't prepared to be a parent slave and brave enough to enter the world of duty delegation.
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