Yesterday we did something that will turn out to be either brilliant or completely stupid. We put the kids in charge of the laundry.

Boy will tote the dirty clothes into the laundry room and load the washer, then the dryer, then tote the clean clothes to our bedroom (aka Laundry Central). Girl will sort and fold. Both of them will put away their clothes. That’s the theory. They’ll get an allowance for this, but I can’t tell you how much it is because we told the kids that how much money you make is supposed to be kept private.

Today is the first official day. After we gave them their assignments yesterday, they tore off in a fit of enthusiasm. Boy got a load started in the washer. Girl folded about three towels and then announced, “I’m going to take a break.”

Later that afternoon I asked if she would mind if I folded a basket of clothes to give her a head start. “Sure,” she said. “I’m still on break.”

So basically I’m expecting lots of clothes strewn across my bedroom, which won’t make it that different from usual. But I have to resist the urge to load and fold. In other words, I have to lower my standards. Which are pretty far down there to begin with.