Mom, what can I do?

Sunday, Oct 04^th 2009

By Nancy French

I came home from a weekend away, to find that my husband had done an amazing job keeping the kids happy, healthy, and fed. However, they needed showers before tomorrow's school and the water heater -- as well as our furnace -- was not working.

The kids asked, "Hey, what are we going to do tonight?"

It dawned on me that our technology is what makes our embarassing amount of leisure time possible. I'm sure they were wondering if we could read books, play games, or watch a movie.

"Tonight," I said, "We're taking baths."

Usually, you can shower and do something else. But since our water heater failed us, that's all we had time to do. I put four huge pots on the stove, waited for the water to boil, and the kids laughed as the hot water steamed up the mirror. It took forever, and was incredibly fun in spite of its inconvenience.

It made me wonder how much trouble we make for ourselves because our kids are sitting around idle, without chores or any real way to help run the household. In fact, our households practically run themselves. (My friend built what he calls a "smart house," with programmable appliances, a voice-activated music system, and a security system that can call the police in case of trouble, a coffee machine that makes him coffee in the morning, and heated tiles that turn on when he's in the shower.) Since there's nothing left for the kids to do -- no real work needed -- they have idle hands, which we know can easily find trouble.

I don't know. That's what I was thinking about, during my twelfth trip to the bathtub, with a boiling pot in my hands yelling, "Get out of the way, guys! Coming through!"

I do hope, however, the showers work tomorrow.

Nancy French

Nancy French is an author, commentator, and mother. Her next book, about the year her husband spent in Iraq is due out July 4, 2011. Connect with her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NancyAndersonFrench and follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nancyafrench.

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