What do you call this? Initiative? When does it kick in?

[Miss Peregrine]

DD 14 is supposed to empty the dishwasher this week. I loaded it last night but forgot to run it. I told her to empty it last night, thinking I had. Apparently she opened it, saw that it was full, but dirty, and closed the door. I asked her this morning if she emptied it and she said no, that she looked again this morning and it was still dirty. Really? REALLY?

 

What is the missing component that would cause her to add soap and turn it on? It is initiative? Common sense? When does it kick in?

[OrganicAnn]

Has she prior to this - added soap, run water till it is hot and then turned on the dishwaster? Just asking, because lots of kitchen appliance are off limits to kids and sometimes they don't think they are allowed to run them unless specifically allowed to.

[Peela]

Lol, we have those sorts of issues all the time. My kids do kitchen duty alternate weeks, and frequently "forget" to put the dishwasher on.

I think it's because they just dont take ownership of household duties. They are a "chore" to them. They don't see the bigger picture, just the fact that doing this chore is taking up time that could be better spent doing something else.

I would say, for my kids, 14 is too young to "expect" that sort of initiative, but that doesn't mean I am not working on it! You should see the pouting around here this morning because I asked them both to do some vacuuming and clean their rooms! Not to mention, I cook for 15 or so people every Saturday morning- at 9.30, the dishwasher still hadnt been turned on when it was supposed to be turned on last night. Which is very inconvenient for my job!

[Haiku]

My fifteen year old will walk right past a major catastrophe and never once think to do anything about it.

 

Tara