I was at the doctor’s office and it is always nice to sit down with a magazine for a few minutes. One of the articles was really interesting to me! It was written by a mom of 8 children, who had alot of trouble staying on top of dishes. i could really relate as she recounted how she would clean in the evening and wake up to a counter or sink full of leftover lasagna crusted dishes, peanut butter knives etc. from late night snacking. She discovered a solution for her which I found very interesting. She packed all the dishes away and then went to the store and bought glass soup plates (they can be used as a bowl, but are also large enough for a plate). She bought paint that was able to be used in the dishwasher and painted names on the outside of the each plate and glasses for each person. Then she stuck some plates away in case they had guests, but otherwise, they were each responsible after a meal to get their plate cleaned and dried, so they would have it. If not, they did not eat until it was clean. She said, now they were experiencing the joys of scrubbing off dried on oatmeal off bowls and when it was left in the living room, they knew who did it!!!
<p> I found it interesting as I did something similar when we moved and put away alot of the dishes. I have still not left too many out and it does really help. I think I need to go and and check again as there have been alot of dishes lately!
That is a fascinating idea! I have heard of something similar with assigning each child their own color of dish. But I suppose with 8 children, you might run out of colors that you can just buy at the store. ;-)