I have nothing to do!

[Garga]

DS18 is 18. He’s an adult.  He’s in college, but he has a 6-week break between semesters and his break started today.

The plan had been for him to pick up some hours at McDonalds (he doesn’t work during school years, just on breaks), but with our Covid numbers shooting sky-high, we didn’t think it was worth the risk for him to work for just 6 weeks.

So instead of working at McD’s for the next month and a half...I’ve handed off 90% of the adult responsibilities in the house to him. 

Taking stuff to the recycling place, picking up the curbside groceries, litter boxes, cleaning the bathrooms, vacuuming, laundry, dishes...etc. I helped him make a little chart of all the things that need to be done. Some are daily, some are weekly, and some are only once or twice in the 6 weeks (like recycling runs.)

Today was the first day that I am schooling with DS15, DH is at work, and DS18 is handling all the household chores I would normally do in the day and evening.

So...I didn’t do the litter boxes. I didn’t wash and then hang the laundry. I didn’t wash the dishes. I didn’t clean the cat fountain. 

In between schooling, I did call the car dealership to see if my touch up paint arrived and I wrapped a Christmas present for DS18 that arrived in the mail. But otherwise...there’s not much for me to do!

 

I’m kinda loving this! The amount of work DS18 has to do each day is much less than it takes me to school DS15 and less than DH works, so he still gets plenty of time off.  And now I don’t have to scramble all day squeezing in chores between schooling, or having them all saved up to do in the evening.  DH usually comes home and washes all the dinner dishes, but he’ll have the night off, too!

I’m going to go through all the old hats/scarves/gloves and get rid of any we haven’t used in a few years. And instead of working at a frantic pace to just “get the job done” because I still have piles of laundry/dishes/litter hanging over me...I can relax and do it like a normal person.

I might even play a computer game this evening! This is great!

 

[Ottakee]

Enjoy.   My young adults all have special needs so my parenting continues.

[Garga]

1 minute ago, Ottakee said:

Enjoy.   My young adults all have special needs so my parenting continues.

Aww...maybe I shouldn’t have posted what I did.   😞. It was a long road getting him to this point, and I was celebrating that, but...not everyone gets to this point.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Garga

[klmama]

How nice he's so willing to help out!  Enjoy your mini-break, Garga. 

[mommyoffive]

Big kids can be such a help!  Enjoy it. 

[Arcadia]

Both my kids are on community college winter break. All their classes this year are dual enrollment classes. We are all taking a rest today before starting on spring cleaning. 

[RootAnn]

Great time to get a start on those projects you never have time for!

[HS Mom in NC]

Niiiiiiiice! Enjoy!

[Garga]

12 minutes ago, klmama said:

How nice he's so willing to help out!  Enjoy your mini-break, Garga. 

I was surprised there wasn’t more pushback. I think it’s because he really didn’t want to go back to McDonald’s for 6 weeks.  I discussed with him that with the covid numbers going up, it probably wasn’t the wisest thing to do, which made him really happy.

But then I said, “But at the same time, you’re a grown up now, so it’s not really fair for you to have off for so long while everyone else is working...” and he could see the logic of that.

And I think it’s good for him for maturity. There are very few things that I could really pass off to him completely while he was schooling. I think it’ll be good for him to have to get out the GPS and figure out where the recycling place is for himself, and figure out how to get to the grocery pickup place at the right time.  He’ll be calling in his own RXs and getting them from the pharmacy for himself. (Though I will follow up with him to be sure he got  the meds because it’s IMPORTANT for him to take them. I do micromanage the meds and check that he’s taken them each day.)

I couldn’t really pass this off before, because he also has ADHD and low processing speed, so school work takes forEVER, and he just got out of a horrible bout of depression. I couldn’t really pass anything on to him while he was struggling. It took such effort for him just to do the bare minimum. 

This is a very bright moment and I’m so proud he’s able to do this for the family right now.  Six months ago, before we figured out the depression issues, this wouldn’t have worked.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Garga

[Ottakee]

21 minutes ago, Garga said:

Aww...maybe I shouldn’t have posted what I did.   😞. It was a long road getting him to this point, and I was celebrating that, but...not everyone gets to this point.

No.  You are fine.   I am able to pass off more and more to my kids....and even get away for an overnight once in a while.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Ottakee

[JumpyTheFrog]

It sounds like you finally have the "wife" many of us here mutter that we need.

[Garga]

4 minutes ago, JumpyTheFrog said:

It sounds like you finally have the "wife" many of us here mutter that we need.

Yes, I was thinking, “So this is what it’s like to be rich and have a live in maid.”

[prairiewindmomma]

Enjoy! My oldest finished finals this past week, and this morning I had him raking leaves and taking care of errands. He's currently taking his younger siblings out on a walk around the neighborhood.  I am really hoping I can get him on house cleaning duty tomorrow.