Vacuuming Contest

One of the things that really needed to be done this evening was vacuuming the downstairs.  Willow, Middle Son's service dog, is a Great Pyrenees, which means she leaves a cloud of long white hair in her wake.  There were clumps and clusters of hair all over the place.

I'm trying to have Middle Son and Youngest Son involved in the housework where I can.  Middle will largely do what I ask, but for many tasks I he needs hand-over-hand assistance to understand what he is being asked to do and/or to stay on task long enough to finish.  I've had some success lately turning things into a contest with Youngest.  Last weekend I asked him to help mean clean the toilets, then said "Actually, that job is probably too hard for you, so I'll get someone else to help me."  So naturally he REALLY wanted to clean the toilets after that.

Tonight, I told him that after dinner we were going to have a vacuuming contest.  He, Middle, and I would each vacuum a room and see who did the best job.  He thought that was a great idea.

After dinner we were getting ready to start.  I asked Older Daughter if she wanted to be in on the contest.  To my considerable surprise she said yes.  Youngest vacuumed the family room.  My Beloved Wife and I helped Middle vacuum the kitchen.  Older then took the vacuum for her turn in the dining room.  I said I was very pleased that she had chosen to play along.  Beloved said that it was because I had engaged her competitive streak.

When we were done, Beloved, the judge of the contest, said that all the rooms were definitely much cleaner, so everybody won.