An Ode to Natural Consequences

My children don't really have a lot of chores to do. Bedroom cleaning, pet care, trash removal and kitchen clean-up are their biggest chores.

The kitchen clean-up chore is the biggest (and seems to be the most difficult) chore for them to deal with. All I ask is that the dishes are washed, the floor swept and the tables wiped off. That's all.
I informed the kids a while ago (maybe a month or so) that if I came home from work and the kitchen clean-up chores weren't complete I would not be able to cook dinner. Well, they hemmed and hawed about it, not taking it seriously. Darn kids.

See, Pickles and 'Cole get home from school at about 3:15 pm. Daisy and Pinky get home at 4:15. I get home at 4:45. There's PLENTY of time for the chore to be completed. But, no.... they eat their snack, they talk about their day, they do their homework, and they talk about their day some more. No one gives any thought to the nasty kitchen. (Pickles has an issue getting the food in his mouth...but that's a WHOLE other post)

Thursday when I came in from work, the breakfast dishes were still in the sink. I was home late (6:00pm) because I had to pick up a prescription for Granny. I didn't raise a fuss. I didn't yell. I didn't lecture. I did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. I made sandwiches and gave everyone potato chips and fruit.

I called everyone to wash up for dinner and you should have seen the looks on their faces when they saw dinner. They immediately knew what had happened and tore into each other like a pack of miniature wolves. (Pickles was especially funny because all he kept saying was "I can't believe it. I just can't believe we aren't getting hot food for dinner.")

So I'm happy to say that since that day I have been enjoying an extremely clean kitchen and a sink NOT full of dishes.