A long day.

On Wednesday Russell punished Katie and Liz for some infraction by assigning them to weed a 15'x20' unplanted (mostly bare) patch of our garden. Who knew this would turn out to be the most difficult task they have ever attempted in their lives?

8:45 - Girls are given their assignment and told to get started. They work diligently for approximately 4 minutes before beginning to throw dirt at each other and play together.
9:00 - I go outside to remind them to work. They work for 2 minutes before they wander over to the fence to watch the sheep next door. (Which I have to admit are very interesting, with little lambs and all.)
9:10 - I yell at them from the back porch to get back to work. They walk to the weeds and stand and look at me.
9:15 - Repeat of previous actions.
9:25 - Ditto.
9:30 - Upon finishing my indoor chores, I go out to help. I tell them to get out from under the peach tree and then offer to work with them as long as they work.
9:40 - I leave, because even with me working right next to them, they will not work. I tell them they cannot have a snack or lunch or any other food until they are done. If they start working right now they could be done in 30 minutes. I clean the driveway and back porch. They play.
11:30 - They realize that lunch is coming up soon and they are getting hungry. I think perhaps a corner will be turned. They pull a few weeds and then go back to watch the sheep. Oh, well.
12:30 - I remind them of lunch, but they seem uninterested. I tell them to stay in their little area, and they do...until I go inside again.
1:45 - Russell comes in and asks if I have gone into the empty house next door for anything. I haven't. They have found an unlocked door and been resting and playing in the empty house, although they are not there now. I check on them again. They are hanging things from the clothesline that crosses the weed patch. We lock the empty house.
2:00 - I am inside keeping the other kids busy, and I sit down on my bad for a minute or two. I fall asleep. After about 20 minutes I start to have bad dreams about everything that could go wrong out there with no one keeping an eye on them, so I get up and go out. Everything is fine. I should say, everything is the same as it has been all day. Girls playing, weeds thriving. I keep peeking out every so often to make sure they are alive.
3:45 - Russ and I go check on the progress. No girls. We see them in the back lot playing with something. Closer inspection is called for. They have found some old bottles of stucco dye that Russ's brother, Craig has left out there. The bottles hold about 8 oz. of vary dark dye that is the consistency of yogurt. Liz and Kate have uncapped about 6 or 7 of them and used fox tails as paintbrushes to paint the side of a big dump truck in the back lot. Of course they have managed to drip/smear a liberal amount of dye onto themselves: hands, faces, clothes, hair. We clean up what we can and march them over to Uncle Craig's to confess and apologize. They do so, to which Uncle Craig responds by telling them they've probably learned a lesson and would they like some strawberries? Thank you, Craig! That'll teach 'em! We allow them to pick the strawberries, but will not allow them to eat until....yep. Until the weeds are done.
4:15 - Back home, and I have had it. I sit on a lawn chair in the middle of the patch and point to weeds, individually and specifically, and demand their removal from the ground and deposit into the trash. The girls cry about how unfair everything is, but it takes us about 15 minutes using this method to finish the job.

15 minutes.

They have spent an entire day in the hot sun, getting yelled at by parents, not eating, not hiking to play in the river (which was one of the things I had planned for the day), and not going to the library (another plan). All for 15 minutes of work. That is so frustrating for me. I want them to learn to be self-motivated, and I believe the way to do it is to allow them some opportunities to reap the consequences of failure. Unfortunately we all have to miss out on the fun things as well when one or two children choose to fail. But I can think back and remember JR having the same kinds of days, and he eventually learned. He's much better than he used to be, so I have hope for the future. Of course, I still have children coming up. It's going to be a long haul. Let's just hope my sanity will stand by me until the end.