Hey Mom--what's for dinner?

For some reason I had this crazy notion that once summer came this new plan of teaching my kids responsibility/independence/resilience would be easier.  Not so much.  I'm struggling to figure out when to do the room checks when kids are still lounging about until 11 am.  I know, I know!  I'm one of those moms who lets their kids sleep in during the summer.  I'm sure some of you are shaking your heads and saying, "no wonder her kids don't pick up their socks...."  Heres the thing though--I ADORE sleeping in!  There was nothing that I loved more when I was a teenager than having the luxury of sleeping until my body told me to wake up.  I still love sleeping in though that tends to hardly every happen.  I also think that my kids deserve a bit of a break.  After all, during the school year all of my teenagers have to be at early morning seminary every week day at 6:10 am so I feel like being able to sleep in during the summer is a reward for that.  Call me crazy.

So...I've adjusted my expectations a bit for the jar method.  I've decided that for now, I don't care so much about the bed being made because I still want to do my room checks each morning.  BUT--the room needs to be straight and they must have their daily job done before bed the night before.  We'll see how that goes.  

I'm also getting ready to implement phase 2 of "becoming a responsible citizen/resilient child."  The dreaded cooking aspect.  I've mentioned before that I pretty much hate cooking.  I've spent a lot of time analyzing it and here is what I dislike about it:

1.  Planning the menu--because there is NOTHING all six kids like.  Except when I make scones for dinner.  And fried bread dipped in honey does not constitute a meal.

2.  Shopping for the food--I seriously have to work up the courage to go to the grocery store.  I'd rather go to the dentist than Winco.  And don't even get me started on Wal-Mart...

3.  Paying for the food--I have two issues here.  First, the money--but I don't whine too much about that because Dave is my sugar daddy.  Secondly, I'm always slightly ashamed at the amount of sugar cereal, cookies, crackers, etc that make up my cart.  I feel like the cashier is silently chastising me for the amount of junk food I'm purchasing.  I always feel like saying--" I really buy healthy food too--see my bag of apples?"

4.  Bagging the groceries--it's like Tetris gone bad.

5.  Putting them away--because this means confronting last week's leftovers in the fridge and the soggy tomatoes in the vegetable drawer.

6.  Cooking the meal--it takes an hour and is consumed in under 10 minutes.

7.  Cleaning up--speaks for itself.

So as you can see, the only part I like is eating it.  Which is why the workers at Baja Fresh and Panda Express know me by name.  

But--I do want the kids to learn how to prepare a meal from beginning to end.  That means that I want them to plan, shop for, cook and clean up the meal.  This is going to be a huge adjustment for me because I am a last minute chef.  The kids ask for dinner and I never know--or I tend to change my plan from one minute to the next.  It's like cooking ADD.  So, my plan is to assign each kid a night and let them be in charge.  I'm starting with just three nights a week because our summer is busy plus I don't want Jose at Baja to forget me just yet.  

Wish me luck!