More than he could chew

Tag decided to not do his dishes one night (and I was too busy with homework to do much enforcing), so he was given the choice of doing them this morning or letting them pile all day and doing them when he came home from school. Being the little procrastinator he is, of course he opted to put it off for as long as possible.

This afternoon, this dishes filled both sinks and spilled onto the counter, sometimes teetering among the tupperware bowls we got out to eat cereal since all the normal ones were dirty , other times jostling for room among the 50 cups the little girls get out in a day.

He took one look at the mountain and despaired. I did a little grieving of my own as his wail penetrated my awareness and I blew him off in a fit of pique.

"Just hush, Tag! I know you're sad, I know you're frustrated, but just start! If you start, if you show me that you're working, I'll come help."

"But I can't do this much! It's too tall!"

I marched back into the kitchen, ready to give him a piece of my mind regarding procrastination when I saw that one of the sinks had far fewer dishes.

"Look..." I said, buying myself some time. "What if I just set the timer... for five minutes."

"Five minutes!!! That's way to short! And the dishes are too tall! Short and tall don't go together!"

"HOLD ON!!! I mean, hold on. Now, look at this sink with just a few dishes. I'll set the timer for five minutes and you just get these done. We'll worry about the rest after these are done. Ok?"

He paused, his mouth still open wide for a rebuttal, his eyebrows still smashed together in a severely pathetic frown, and looked at the small pile. It looked so much shorter than the rest of the dishes...

"Ok, mom. But, I'm not going to make it in five minutes."

I took a quiet breath. "We'll see."

Less than four minutes later, he came to get me with a smile on his face. "Look how fast I did these!"

"Look at that! And you still have time on the timer!" My heart raced, thrilled to give him some success.

"Can I have a snack now?"

Hmmmmm... thin ice. Yes or no? "How about you stuff your face while I reload this side of the sink. Then, as soon as I set the timer, you start up again. Good deal?"

"Yeah, mom, good deal."

In this manner, he managed to deal with a pile of dishes that made even me groan and avert my eyes. He didn't make it before the five minutes each time, but I just said "it's ok. I'm not mad, and there is no punishment. We'll just make a smaller pile this time and see how you do."

"Ok mom, good deal."

Happy Tag, happy mom, no fight, and clean dishes.

I call that a stunning success, folks.