Who's the Boss?

We all arrived home around six o'clock last night. The kids had dress rehearsal for the school play, 101 Dalmations. We happily greeted Jon who had just gotten home from work. I knew I needed to get dinner started right away so that we could eat, get cleaned up and fit a quick FHE in before 8:15 when a bunch of my friends were due to meet at our house to go out for a girlfriend's b-day celebration.

I gave Jon two options for dinner, he opted for the beef and broccoli. I quickly threw it together and we sat down to eat. Right after the blessing Alyssa looked to Jon and said, "Why do you get to choose?" "Because I'm the dad," Jon replied. Then he said, "Maybe when you grow up and you're the dad, you'll get to choose." That of course started the discussion about how Caleb would be a dad but Alyssa would be a mom. Caleb asked, "What does a mom do?" Oh, I love that question! I thought, "Here's my chance to list my many jobs and earn some credit and respect from my children." Jon and I went back and forth listing the many jobs a mom does; laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, bathrooms, driving kids to their activities, volunteering in classrooms, PTA meetings...we went on and on.

After a thoughtful pause, Caleb sighed and said, "Wow Sis, you gotta do a lot of jobs if you're going to be a mom!" I laughed, gleefully clapped my hands and asked Caleb to give me five! It always feels good to get some acknowledgement, right?

After another thoughtful pause and with a small amount of dread Caleb asked, "What does a dad do?" "Goes to work," I said. "And does the dishes." (Jon's really good about that!) "That's it?" Caleb responded with relief. I asked, "But doesn't that sound hard, too?" Caleb didn't think so. I think he is very glad that he will fill the dad role. He'd much rather go off to work (which he obviously doesn't understand what that really entails) AND get to choose what's for dinner!