I don't think of myself as a terribly picky person. I like routine, and I like efficiency, but I can deal with a little chaos (I do have five sons after all!).
But watching the boys tidy up after dinner is a little more than I can handle without morphing into a hovering, nit-picking, anxious mess. They don't put leftovers in appropriately-sized containers. They load the dishwasher terribly inefficiently. They dilly-dally like it's the latest greatest game!
But it's utterly important to me that the boys learn these skills of cleaning and storing and working together, so I can't just step in and take over.
This used to drive me nuts, but not since Christmas. Not since the foosball table.
Ever since the arrival of the family Christmas gift, Wade and I excuse ourselves immediately after the dinner routine is finished and engage in lively, animated and sometimes sweaty best-of-three foosball competitions.
And we have so much fun! And I don't stress out watching the boys do kitchen duty! And when I later discover that a very small quantity of leftovers was stored in my largest Tupperware and the dishwasher ran at only two-thirds full while a cup sits empty in the sink and maybe some of the compost scraps ended up in the trash instead, it doesn't bother me as much, because they come in small, spread-out doses instead of all at once.
It's a wonderful thing. Foosball has saved my after-dinner sanity.
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