The Domesticated Male
Sep. 7th, 2005 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackofallgeeksFor the last week or so, I have been playing Stay-At-Home Dad to my four youngest siblings. My dad recently got a promotion which involves working with the Australians, and mom decided to go with him for his introductory trip.
So, as Gene and Josh have already gone off to school, Jenny has a family in Virginia, and Tim is living with Jenny this summer, I was the only one left to watch Greg (12), Beth (10), Becky (8), and Emily (4). All told, I rather enjoyed it.
The first task at hand was cleaning. If left to the natural course of things, our house would be a disaster before the end of the third day. I made use of a lesson involving flies, vinegar, and honey -- along with careful wording -- and gave my siblings this option daily: if a given section of the house (basemement, bathrooms, bedrooms) which I indicated each morning got cleaned before dinner, then I would reward them with a treat (candy or a movie or something). If it didn't get cleaned before dinner, we would clean it after dinner, and then just go to bed. They managed to get cleaned nearly every day. I also managed to keep them washing the dishes and generally keeping the kitchen clean, but that's routine around our house anyways.
Second was soccer practice. It's early in the year, so there were no games, but practice itself was enough. Greg practiced on Monday and Wednesday, from 5:30-7:00. Becky on Monday and Wednesday from 5:30-6:30. And Beth practiced on Wednesday and Friday from 5:30-7:00. All at different fields. It worked out alright, though Greg was often 10 minutes early, Becky was 10 minutes late, and Beth's coach routinely went over by 15 or 20 minutes. The most entertaining bit was some exchanged I had with soccermoms are Becky's practice:
(Day One)
Soccermom 1: We just need a number that we can reach, in case of cancelled practices or something.
Andrew: Well, I can give you my mom's cell number. (Proceeds to write it.)
Soccermom 1: OK, so, that's the Grandmother then?
Andrew: Uhm, no. The mother.
(Day Two)
Soccermom 2: So, which child is yours? I have some paperwork.
Andrew: Well, my sister is Becky.
Soccermom 2: OK, but which is the child?
Andrew: ... uhm, Becky.
Soccermom 1: I just did that to him last week. (Laughs.)
So, that was fun. Mind you, Becky's my 8-year old sister. I'd've been about 14 when I had her. Doable, but unlikely. Maybe I just look older... I hadn't been shaving much.
Anyways. The third bit was cooking. And in this, I was pretty proud of myself. I can't remembder exactly what I made when, but of the 10-odd days that I was watching the kids, I had to cook dinner for at least 8 of them. Usually, I'd have the kids make up the side-dishes, like mashed potatoes or green beans, but I did the main courses.
One night I made 'mexican chicken' (chicken breast cooked with salsa and shredded cheese). I also made hamburgers and steak out on the grill. Another night was bratwurst, though we'd run out of propane and I needed to pan-sear them on the stove (as per the usual preparation, they'd already been boiled in beer). I made another chicken dish, this time marinated in garlic sause, though I failed rather horribly at making collared greens (my mom informed me tonight that I should have been using Simmer not Low, a setting I didn't know the stove had).
And just last night I made my mom's from-scratch meatballs and spaghetti sause, which is only slightly-less well known than her homemade pizza. And it all came out really well, though I may try to simmer the sause longer to thicken it up a bit more next time. Mom even tried it tonight and said it was really good. I didn't get to try my hand at omlettes or waffles (I was never up early enough to justify breakfrast food) or her pizza recipe (I didn't think to try tackling that alone, and probably rightly so), but I'd like to get around to all three at some point, after my move to California if not later this weekend.
And that was my time being domestic and such. And I really kind of liked it. The kids weren't nearly as difficult as some might have had me believe they would be, and Greg even helped me out a lot (as I knew he would).
There were a few points I begrudge myself, though. None of the house got (and stayed) as clean as I would have liked, and I have new appreciation for that mad-dash cleaning mom does before people come over -- yeah, no one's perfect and everyone lives like this, but... I mean, I don't want the house to be a mess, and I don't want others to see the mess, because it's not my ideal. It's not how I'd have things if it could be helped, and I don't want to give the wrong impression. Also, none of the vacuuming or laundry got done. And I found myself oddly bored at times -- oddly because I probably could have used the bored time to take care of the aforementioned missed points, but... well, frankly, I didn't want to.
So, yes. New appreciation of what it really takes to run a household.
And, on that note, bed. Mom and I stayed up late tonight talking, as we are wont to do from time to time, and if any of what I need to get done in the next few days is going to get done, then I need sleep.
So, as Gene and Josh have already gone off to school, Jenny has a family in Virginia, and Tim is living with Jenny this summer, I was the only one left to watch Greg (12), Beth (10), Becky (8), and Emily (4). All told, I rather enjoyed it.
The first task at hand was cleaning. If left to the natural course of things, our house would be a disaster before the end of the third day. I made use of a lesson involving flies, vinegar, and honey -- along with careful wording -- and gave my siblings this option daily: if a given section of the house (basemement, bathrooms, bedrooms) which I indicated each morning got cleaned before dinner, then I would reward them with a treat (candy or a movie or something). If it didn't get cleaned before dinner, we would clean it after dinner, and then just go to bed. They managed to get cleaned nearly every day. I also managed to keep them washing the dishes and generally keeping the kitchen clean, but that's routine around our house anyways.
Second was soccer practice. It's early in the year, so there were no games, but practice itself was enough. Greg practiced on Monday and Wednesday, from 5:30-7:00. Becky on Monday and Wednesday from 5:30-6:30. And Beth practiced on Wednesday and Friday from 5:30-7:00. All at different fields. It worked out alright, though Greg was often 10 minutes early, Becky was 10 minutes late, and Beth's coach routinely went over by 15 or 20 minutes. The most entertaining bit was some exchanged I had with soccermoms are Becky's practice:
(Day One)
Soccermom 1: We just need a number that we can reach, in case of cancelled practices or something.
Andrew: Well, I can give you my mom's cell number. (Proceeds to write it.)
Soccermom 1: OK, so, that's the Grandmother then?
Andrew: Uhm, no. The mother.
(Day Two)
Soccermom 2: So, which child is yours? I have some paperwork.
Andrew: Well, my sister is Becky.
Soccermom 2: OK, but which is the child?
Andrew: ... uhm, Becky.
Soccermom 1: I just did that to him last week. (Laughs.)
So, that was fun. Mind you, Becky's my 8-year old sister. I'd've been about 14 when I had her. Doable, but unlikely. Maybe I just look older... I hadn't been shaving much.
Anyways. The third bit was cooking. And in this, I was pretty proud of myself. I can't remembder exactly what I made when, but of the 10-odd days that I was watching the kids, I had to cook dinner for at least 8 of them. Usually, I'd have the kids make up the side-dishes, like mashed potatoes or green beans, but I did the main courses.
One night I made 'mexican chicken' (chicken breast cooked with salsa and shredded cheese). I also made hamburgers and steak out on the grill. Another night was bratwurst, though we'd run out of propane and I needed to pan-sear them on the stove (as per the usual preparation, they'd already been boiled in beer). I made another chicken dish, this time marinated in garlic sause, though I failed rather horribly at making collared greens (my mom informed me tonight that I should have been using Simmer not Low, a setting I didn't know the stove had).
And just last night I made my mom's from-scratch meatballs and spaghetti sause, which is only slightly-less well known than her homemade pizza. And it all came out really well, though I may try to simmer the sause longer to thicken it up a bit more next time. Mom even tried it tonight and said it was really good. I didn't get to try my hand at omlettes or waffles (I was never up early enough to justify breakfrast food) or her pizza recipe (I didn't think to try tackling that alone, and probably rightly so), but I'd like to get around to all three at some point, after my move to California if not later this weekend.
And that was my time being domestic and such. And I really kind of liked it. The kids weren't nearly as difficult as some might have had me believe they would be, and Greg even helped me out a lot (as I knew he would).
There were a few points I begrudge myself, though. None of the house got (and stayed) as clean as I would have liked, and I have new appreciation for that mad-dash cleaning mom does before people come over -- yeah, no one's perfect and everyone lives like this, but... I mean, I don't want the house to be a mess, and I don't want others to see the mess, because it's not my ideal. It's not how I'd have things if it could be helped, and I don't want to give the wrong impression. Also, none of the vacuuming or laundry got done. And I found myself oddly bored at times -- oddly because I probably could have used the bored time to take care of the aforementioned missed points, but... well, frankly, I didn't want to.
So, yes. New appreciation of what it really takes to run a household.
And, on that note, bed. Mom and I stayed up late tonight talking, as we are wont to do from time to time, and if any of what I need to get done in the next few days is going to get done, then I need sleep.
