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Kitchen Points System in my Youth

Updated: Nov 2

Who Needs a Dishwasher When You Have 8 of Them?

I was number four in our family of eight to help clean the kitchen after meals. A few years later, another sibling qualified to do dishes as my oldest sister instead got a part-time job. With four helpers in the kitchen, my dad, older brother, and sister devised a weekly point system: one point for clearing, washing, and drying. This new point system aimed to simplify things with kitchen chores, which was only sometimes the case. Anyway, as in any new system, adjustments were made when necessary.

 

The clearing of dishes was reasonably straightforward but also included sweeping the floor. That meant the clearer had to move all kitchen chairs around to capture the crumbs and excess food that had made its way to the floor. I enjoyed washing dishes as I had developed an efficient and effective system. Hot water was critical, and glasses and silverware were the first to be washed, followed by bowls and plates.  Greasy pots and pans were last, as you wanted to keep the dishwater as pure and clean as possible.

 

There was only one major annoyance in washing dishes: if the clearer needed to be faster or brought you pots and pans first, it interfered with the flow. Sometimes, a sibling would appear to have ADHD as they’d not focus on the task of clearing the table and getting me the dirty dishes as soon as possible.

 

Some siblings liked drying as they could wield their power of quality control and send anything back to the washer that didn't meet their standards. I rarely offended to rewash a dish as long as I wasn't splashed. There was never a situation when the kids didn’t thoroughly clean the kitchen before bedtime.

 

During school days, dinner was the only meal where the point system was applied, and three meals each on Saturday and Sunday. During summer vacation, there were three meals daily for the entire week, meaning a total point value of sixty-three. This meant that during the warm summer, breakfast and lunch often involved cereal bowls, silverware, glasses, and paper plates (to be discarded).

 

These more leisurely meals provided an astute sibling to grab those more straightforward points of the week. Earning three points for a summer lunch meal with paper plates could be accomplished in 15 minutes. Summer dinners were the opposite (and often could take one person more than one hour) as my mother and older siblings helped whip up a sit-down dinner that included meat, mashed potatoes, peas or carrots, bread, vegetables, and whole milk. It was a significant mess to clean up and a major mess to one's playtime. Most of us were not brave enough to tackle such a chore for evening meals, but the individual with the few points at that moment had to address the mess. 


Dishes

Some Were Better Than Others at Finding Easier Meals to Work

My younger brother and sister were adept at lobbying mom on the types of meals she planned for the week, especially for evening meals. Even in the summer, she planned on having a big dinner for most evenings except if we had plans around that time. Because you could call your meals for the week on Sunday morning, those crafty individuals could secure the lightest meals. It took me a while to understand his approach, but even though I understood his strategy, I lacked the discipline of calling the more leisurely meals to do the dishes. 

 

The week ended on Saturday, so there were many situations where I was short three or more points on the last few days of the week. On Friday or Saturday evening, if a thorough dinner, the person with the least points would be “stuck” to doing that messy meal. I vividly remember looking at the vacant kitchen after the rest of the gang had gone on to do more exciting things. There were typically four pots and pans to clean for sit-down dinners, several spatulas, cutting knives, plates, glasses, and silverware for ten, if not more. Also, there may have been other dishes in the sink from snacks consumed in the afternoon. My daydreaming helped me pass the time away, but in today's world, I'd strap on my noise-canceling headphones and listen to podcasts or audiobooks to help me accomplish this overwhelming and mundane task.

 

Controversy About Chores Among Kids? 

It's not surprising that controversy sometimes ensued about who called what meal. Did that person correctly sign the call sheet? Was it legible? Did they include which items had been called? Sometimes, my dad read the paper in the living room as some of us bickered and debated the correct legal fight. After this occurred for about five to ten minutes, he'd charge into the kitchen and try to sort things out. If he was involved, his executive decision was that those involved in the controversy had to partner together and clean up the dinner mess. That action didn’t necessarily subdue the bickering; ultimately, the kitchen was cleaned.


Dishes

We Recycled 50 Years Ago (I was Tithed on Recycling)

Another thing about doing dishes many years ago: we had to rinse and wash out the empty cans of corn, beans, and peas to be recycled. Imagine having an environmentally conscious dad who needed to recycle over 50 years ago. Recycling was not the zeitgeist at the time, so most families would never have gone through the bother, but one could also say no families would have gone through the hassle of formalizing a dishwashing point system.

 

How do I Handle Dishes Over 50 Years Later?

We didn't have a window over our sink growing up, but today, I occasionally glance out the window while I scrub and wash the dishes. Call me a fool, but today, over 50 years later, I still enjoy doing dishes. I've perfected the system, so it's the most efficient way to clean the dishes. Years ago, my mom would review the temperature of the dishwater and say it had to be hotter to kill all the germs. So today, when I manually wash dishes, I give homage to my mom as I attempt to soak them in hot water. I'm not entirely against a dishwasher if you have a dinner party or a special event and need to clean up the kitchen quickly, but if it's only a party of two eating at home, the manual method works well for me.

 

My kids can't believe I didn't have a dishwasher growing up with so many mouths to feed. First, our kitchen was about ninety square feet, so there was no place for a dishwasher. With so many kids around, you had to keep them busy to avoid fighting and bickering. Over the years, my dad was sometimes asked why he didn't have a dishwasher, and he would always say, "What do you mean? I have eight of them." While doing dishes as a first grader, I can't imagine that I would still be going through the same process today. Is it because I had plenty of siblings who were open to providing quality control years ago? Or was it the point system that instilled hard work in me? Today, I still remember cleaning up our eating area, which sometimes looked like a tornado destroyed it.

 

I don't have an answer, but all I know is that my immediate family today is grateful that I handle this task efficiently and effortlessly, even over fifty years after the inception of our points system. 

 

Kitchen Points System in my Youth

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