Mommy Monday

Starting in first grade, my kids make their own school lunches.  In their opinions, it's just another way I like to torture them.  In mine, they're learning a valuable skill, one of which they are perfectly capable.  When they start to complain about how "no one else in my class has to make their own lunch", I retort by saying, "How lucky are you?  You don't have someone else deciding what you have to eat every day!"  Perspective, people, perspective.

Our little lunch-making tradition really isn't that painful when it comes right down to it.  Each child gets one school lunch per week.  Plus, I have designated Monday as a token lunch made by yours truly to give my kids a break on the one day of the week when no one really feels like doing anything extra at 7:30 in the morning.  It's my little gift to them.  Most weeks I include a little love note, or a cookie, or something else to remind them that I occasionally make concessions for them in spite of my rigidity when it comes to chores and routines.  We call it "Mommy Monday".

When I first established this little tradition, it seemed to increase my kids appreciation for me.  They would come home from school and remember to thank me for the little treat I had given them, or to tell me how much they loved the bagel with cream cheese I had taken time to make.  I'd even find the notes I had written, resting on their nightstands, reminders of my love.  But then, as often happens, the thank you's became less frequent, the compliments on my culinary skills few and far between, and they began taking Mommy Monday for granted as a "Yay, I've got an extra 10 minutes to do what I want this morning!" day.  While I'd slave away over peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, they'd opt out of piano practice to crawl back in bed after breakfast.  Or I'd discover them snuggling with the cat after I'd cut up apples and smothered them with ascorbic acid to prevent browning.  Once or twice they even had the gall to read a book instead of completing chores to get out the door on time.  It was a slap in the face to see them lazing around while I added this extra chore to the gazillion other things that I do on any given morning.  But, hey, that's motherhood, right?  Getting taken for granted?

Not if I can help it.

I told the girls that if they wanted to keep Mommy Monday as a tradition, they had to get all their morning chores done on time or they would be making their own lunches the following Monday.  I think I had to follow through on that only twice to earn their appreciation again.  Fast learners, eh?