Life with six kids, my soul-mate, a bunch of books, a cat & a dog.
The younger girls are playing their favorite make-believe game: “Kitty”.
You can probably guess the object of the game.
They often make me laugh when playing it, as I overhear their dialogue:
“And since my fur was so silky, instead of going backward down the stairs, I went down forward like a sled!” (by Gianna)
I am wearing black today. Both of my Roombas died within a week of each other. Bad timing I say. School is about to start and there is NO way I want to even attempt to keep my house clean without these little buddies of mine.
They work to keep my house immaculate all day long, while I cook, clean up, read and teach the kids all day long. I have to say that this is a modern convenience I do not like to do without. Mud, grass, cereal spilled all over the floor…I can continue teaching and the kids can continue learning while the Roomba cleans them up.
However, when I have to go without them, I pause before ordering new ones. Here’s why:
1. While it is not outside of the realm of my vocation to own these devices, it may be outside the realm for my children. What I mean is that I know for sure that it is ok for me (as a homeschooling mother of six, and a wife, a sister, a daughter and a friend) to use any tool necessary to get done what I need to get done in my day. However, I know I need to instill good work habits in my children, and using a robot to clean may not do this. I especially became concerned about this when I asked my six year old to sweep the floor the other day, and, instead she pulled out the Roomba to do it, pushed the ‘on’ button, then ran off to play (until I called her back to do it the way I asked). Well, I don’t blame her – it makes my life easier, too! How can I ask them to sweep the floor, when I prefer the Roomba over a broom myself?
2. They are expensive! The going rate right now for a Roomba is $199 for the base model. This is a lot of money for us. Still, it is cheaper than weekly maid service, which costs $120 a week for our home. I can use the Roomba daily for a year and pay a total of $199. That seems to be the better deal.
3. They break. The Roombas I have owned are susceptible to “technical difficulties”. They require some kind of fixing or cleaning (cleaning a vacuum cleaner? yes, that’s the annoying part!) after using them for a couple months. The batteries wear out quickly and they eventually just break down. IRobot customer service used to be wonderful and based in USA, but lately it has gone downhill.
4. The less fortunate do not own these. Through centuries women have cooked and cleaned like madwomen and somehow found a way to live without dishwashers, roombas and the like. In particular, the less fortunate throughout the world today do not have such things – it bothers my conscience to be so spoiled. At the same time, I know women with large families in the 40′s & 50′s who had nervous breakdowns from trying to “do it all”. My dishwasher helps my children get read to more often, and keeps my kitchen from becoming grossly unsanitary. To me, a Roomba is another tool that helps me achieve this goal. I guess the solution is to use these tools mindful of how fortunate I am, but also mindful that I haven’t found a perfect solution yet.
VS.
Any opinions?
A Corelle plate takes about 30 minutes to clean up after it is broken. This may seem scrupulous to some, but to really locate each & every shard that projectiles itself when dropped, this is an underestimate! Also, evacuation procedures are undertaken – in our house, instead of tornado drills, we do “Broken Dish Drills”.
This usually happens only twice a year or so in our house. However, today I experienced it twice! Good news is I survived.
The other day, I bought “Moon Dough”. Today I let the kids play with it. Then, Clare decided to make chocolate chip cookies (very good, by the way!). I cannot believe that the cookies remain untouched…while the kids continue to say they don’t want cookies, they want to play with MOON DOUGH! They’ve been making little doggies, moon dough bones and steaks for hours! This stuff is an amazing way to entertain them.
*UPDATE* : Oh no!!! Now I know why they were so quiet! (Silence in a house full of young kids is NEVER a good sign.) I walked to the play room and I saw MOON DOUGH EXPLODED EVERYWHERE – Like Mt. Saint Moon Dough erupted and spewed little bits of spongy, mold-able, pink and purple moon stuff EVERYWHERE!!! This stuff sure is fun, but by the time everyone was done cleaning it up, it had completely lost its appeal.
The older girls have been attending summer camp this week. So, Clare asked Gianna, who is not attending camp, to look after Kitty for her. I remember seeing Gianna go upstairs to feed her yesterday morning.
Today, at breakfast, Clare asked Gianna to take care of her again. I asked Clare if Gianna did a good job taking care of kitty yesterday (Fully expecting her to say ‘yes’). Clare responded hesitantly, “Well, there was one small problem. Gianna feed her the entire bag of “hairball remedy” instead of cat food!”
Oops. Kitty seems to have a slight tummy ache today.
“Que”, author of Dad by Trade writes very funny stuff at his blog and I’m linking to it here. Don’t forget to look back at the other entries also, the one on #1 & #2 is true to life, if you don’t mind thinking about that subject!
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