Our three oldest doing what they thought was Mom's job. Many hands make light work.

Jess and I are super-hyper-overachievers, and with the first half-dozen of our children we thought we could handle it all while our children sat around reading The Lightning Thief (where does he keep the lightning once he’s stolen it, by the bye?) or Harry Potter for the 17th time.

But with seven children, we can’t do that any more. And we won’t! Bwa ha ha ha haaaa!

Emma’s assignment this afternoon is to fix the legs of the stool in my studio. Becca’s assignment is to key in the names of selected art galleries whom I’ll pester with my art. Katie helped me with the Jeep’s tires this morning, so she’s off the hook except for her regular chores. Abby’s assignment is to find another piano piece to play at our family piano recital in May. Go go go!

Actually the kids are really fantastic about helping. They have their chores to complete every day, and they do about as well as I did when I was their age—and I was a pretty conscientious kid.

But there’s enough work around here that it’s time to step up a little bit. They want to; Emma asked to learn how to start a fire, and she’s been doing it every weekday morning for the last two weeks. (She does pretty well, too). Becca and Katie are fantastic helpers with the younger kids. One evening last week Jess and I were sitting at the table talking after dinner while the kids were running around breaking stuff. Jess and I like to talk, and we don’t get much chance to do it. So I said,

“Emma, Becca, Katie, come.”

They came. They’re good at coming when called, mostly.

“Please load and start the dishwasher and wash all the dishes. You may finish when the kitchen’s clean.”

And they did! And it looked like they had a pretty good time. And Jess and I enjoyed the chance to talk for a little while.

So I think I do this again. Soon. Regularly.

What do you think? How do you help your kids pitch in around the house?