The Calm before the Storm

Spring Break has officially started for all my kids. I always wonder what we can do to make the time go by quickly and without contention. Glade and I are headed out of town at the end of the week, so it gives me a short week, but not for the kids. I was reading Standing for Something by Pres. Hinckley when it hit me what our activity for the week would be. SPRING CLEANING! He told the story of how spring cleaning got it's name. When he was a child, their heat for the winter came from a coal burning stove. By spring, the house had a coat of black soot everywhere. They cleaned walls, curtains, furniture, rugs, etc. He said it was hard work, and they didn't like the idea of it, but they all loved their fresh clean home when it was done. The point of this story was to teach the kids to work and to enjoy the fruits of their labors. Sometimes I feel guilty for taking their free time, so I am allotting 2 days to spring cleaning. Today is their free day. I'm not going to make them do anything but the basics, you know, put your own crap away sort of stuff. Then tomorrow.......the fun begins!

The Experiment

There will be one child not participating in our spring cleaning. He instead, will be flipping doughnuts for 8 hours a day for a wage of $8 an hour. At the end of the week, we will take his paycheck and help him divided out his money to cover the expenses he would have if he were supporting himself. This is all in hopes to stir something inside him to care about his school work and put forth a little effort. We are trying to show what life will be like if he doesn't get the education he needs. When asked if he had any questions about what we wanted to do, he just said that it didn't seem like what Glade and I do. We were a little confused and asked him to elaborate. He said he meant "like pay all those bills and stuff." HAHAHAHAHAHA! Yep, I laughed right out loud. So I explained that every time he turned on the TV it was because I paid a bill, or flushed a toilet, or rode in a car, or answered the phone or took out the garbage - all because I paid a bill! I'm anxious to talk to him in 5 days and see if anything has changed for him. Prayers for this one, please.