Mommy Strike

Yesterday I was on the verge of tears, for the second time, because the kids are driving me up the wall.

Too sick and tired to push it, I withdrew into myself and resolved to leave them alone and not talk to them for as long as I could. They can do whatever they want, leave the clothes on the floor, not brush their teeth, starve themselves...whatever!

I prayed by myself and retired early. They were still playing, and I think S accidentally openedmy door and saw me praying. I thought I heard the clinking of utensils downstairs. If so, one of them might have thought it a good idea to do that particular chore because Ummi was definitely acting weird.

This morning, as soon as I got out of the room, S went to the chore chart. My mouth was clamped shut - I wasn't saying anything to any of them today.

I don't know if they did their chores or not and I don't really care. They can do whatever they want for all I care!

None of them had taken a shower and they only went downstairs to eat breakfast after I did. Usually I would have been shooing them for breakfast, but today, I'm on a Mommy Strike.

One by one, they took a shower, no yelling from me this time. Except for N. She didn't shower until it was almost time for Zuhr. I fought the urge to tell her to.

I ate lunch by myself, got the food out, put them right back in. I don't know if they ate. I know H did, because he called his father asking when he would come home to pick him up for Jum'ah. At least the boy have a sense of time. Good for him! He ate and I went back upstairs.

Afternoon, I did some cake decorating and the Mommy Strike was over. By Asr, the kids were decorating their own cake and I was speaking to them again. Me and my big mouth!

I thought of a solution though: all the dirty clothes that are left on the floor will be picked up by me, stashed, unwashed, piled until the owner realizes that she doesn't (yes, it's a she, people. By now I know who has the most tendency to do this!) have enough clean clothes. Then, she can either pick a shirt or skirt from the dirty stash or wash them herself. Then maybe next time, she'll think twice about leaving dirty clothes lying everywhere. I might even toss them in the backyard if the mood strikes me.

These kids also have trouble organizing. I'm thinking that for every stationary they lose, they can rent one from me - a dime per item. I will give them a jar of dimes to begin with, tell them to count how much money is in there, get them all excited and then BAM!

'Rent for a Dime' will be open during the school hours.

Maybe I should also extend that to a math lesson - keep track of the dimes they keep using and losing for not being more organized.

Now, I will have to go declutter their drawers without them knowing. I'm so ready for school. Inshaallah. (Can't believe I just wrote that!)