ResponsibilityPosted by Kara on August 23rd, 2010
Growing up in my family, we were required to earn our keep, and it won’t be any different for Jim-Jim. He’s already got responsibilities that he’s required to take care of. Jim-Jim’s very first job was to let Bailey out of her kennel when we return home. We walk through the door and say, “Go do your job, Jim-Jim”, and he sets Bailey free. I love that he takes ownership of his job! In fact, he gets offended if you do it instead. When we went home a couple weekends ago, one of the girls we were visiting let Bailey out of her kennel, and the boy lost it. Lost it! I had to put Bailey back into her kennel, so he could re-let her out.
I am constantly on the look-out for ways to build on Jim-Jim’s responsibilites as his abilites progress. The job of letting Bailey out has expanded, and he is now responsible for walking Bailey, putting his clothes in the washer after his bath, starting the washer, feeding/watering the girls, and putting Bailey in her kennel before we leave home. I give Jim-Jim a bacon-flavored dog treat, and he tells Bailey, “Kennel, Bailey, kennel!” and locks her in. It’s taken some adjustment for Bailey, but she’s finally realized she does have to obey the boy.
I have so been looking forward to the days Jim-Jim is able to help out more, and it’s been satisfying to watch him take joy in his new responsibilites. Never did I think I would have to take back a responsibility. But I’m afraid that’s going to be the case. Jim-Jim and I were getting ready to head to the pool, so I told him to put Bailey in her kennel while I packed our pool bag. Towel? Check. Sunscreen? Check. Extra swim diaper? Check. Gummies to bribe the boy to get out of the pool? Check. Bailey in kennel? What the heck! I had given Jim-Jim a bacon-flavored dog treat with instructions to put Bailey in her kennel, and Bailey had done her part. She was staring at the boy through the bars of her kennel when I looked up from packing our pool bag, but Jim-Jim was kneeling in front of her, chowing down on her bacon-flavored dog treat. We’re going to have to take back this responsibility until the boy can distinguish between Jim-Jim food and Bailey food. In retrospect, giving Jim-Jim this responsibility may have been a bit ambitious. After all, he is related to his daddy, and his DNA prevents him from resisting all things bacon. At one point, we owned bacon salt that Jim mixed into Jim-Jim’s baby food, much to his wife’s chagrin. Enough said.