I wonder how much an au pair costs, anyway. I don't have kids, but I do have cats, and lots of small jobs around the house....

I don't care about a made bed unless a guest is coming over.

It cracks S. up that I always want to make the bed for parties. "But the door will be closed the entire time." "But someone always gets lost and opens the wrong door on the way to the bathroom!"

I find it interesting in how "au pair" is described these days. When I was in my teens (OK, a long time ago) au pairs were European girls who came to the U.S. for a summer and were "mother's helpers" - they'd provide back-up child care, a little light housework; they were here to improve their English, earn a little money, see a little of the world. Now au pair seems to mean nanny/housekeeper and it's a full-time, long term job.

Someone chided me today for expecting mac to get himself ready in the mornings (dress, school bag, brush teeth).

I'm confused by the chiding. Um, I'm guessing it's packing his own backpack? Because surely a 7 year old should be expected to dress himself and brush his own teeth, right?

If I remember correctly, by the age of seven, most kids will protest violently at the idea of having their mother dress them.

My dad had me dressing myself fairly early. He'd put out my clothes and tell me, "Now I'm going to help you get dressed, so don't put on that shirt while I'm gone."

And when he'd come back, I'd be giggling with the shirt on. Then it was, "Ok, I'm going to go make the toast, but don't you have those short on!"

And so on.

He also made putting on my seatbelt in the car into a game. To this day, if I yank on my seatbelt first, I yell "SEATBELT!" and feel like I've won something.

I expect my not-quite five-year-old to dress herself. And to brush her own teeth, although I do supervise sometimes to make sure she's doing it well.

DJ's dad FTW!

DJ's dad totally wins at parenting. So sweet.

My mom had my sister and I learning laundry skills at an early age--first folding (starting with socks) when we were around 5 years old, then drying, then washing, then ironing by the time we were 12 or so. My brother learned a little later, but he did know how to do his own laundry by the time he went to college.

We also did all the household chores (both inside and out) between the three of us by the time I was ten. Mom started working a full-time job when I was 7 and my brother was 12, so we took on doing most of the chores around then, and then added more as I got older and could help out. We were also big proponents of casseroles for dinner--Mom would put them together in the morning and store it in the fridge, then call us after we got home from school and tell us to put it in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes, and that she'd be home by the time it was done.

My SIL never had the niece and nephews doing any cleaning or laundry, so I wonder how they're going to handle living on their own at college.