We are here. Tonight is Passover and we made it. Every year I try to remember the Passover miracles of yesteryear, the ten plagues, the exodus from Egypt, and the splitting of the red sea. And then there is the yearly Passover miracle, that all the things that need to get done are done.
This past week, crunch time:
On Monday, I had an impromptu pow wow over dinner, where we went over what everyone was expected to do in the coming week.
I said,
“I am making a list of jobs for the week. I am going to try to get everything written down, so you will know what to expect. However there will be some jobs that I will forget to write down. I will need cooperation when I ask you to do them.”
“I am going to try to make the job distribution as fair as possible.” They are always concerned whether or not they have done more than their siblings.
That meeting and the list of jobs posted in the kitchen really seemed to help. They knew what was expected of them.
The real challenge was listening to the complaining. I just said, “All this complaining is exhausting me. Jobs need to be done and they need to be done when I asked them to do it.”
I totally forgot about empathy, I could have said, “I know, all this work can be a challenge. I appreciate your help in getting this house ready for Passover.”
or
“You wish that you didn’t have to clean the chairs.”
or
“You feel like you had to do more stuff than T., hmm that could feel frustrating…”
There is still some work to be done today. Maybe I will remember to use some empathy.That could be another Passover miracle!
Have a wonderful and meaningful Passover.
Adina