My Hired-Girl.

This is Kandelyn. She has been on the payroll here since July 2005. She is 11, and a lovely little gabby thing. She took over after the other three neighborhood girls moved away. She likes horses and anything with wheels. She insists that she is in line to inherit my Mazda Miata convertible (IF anything Should Happen to me.)
She is saving to go to Horse Camp again in 2006. I sat down with her and showed her how much she would have to save every week, and made arrangements for her to work regularly to stay on schedule. I am very proud of her. Since July 2005, she has saved $362.74 towards her goal of $650.00.
I am Jewish, so I have a rule: the house is to be cleaned by sundown on Friday, then when I light the Sabbath light, all work stops. Every Friday, without fail, she shows up to do her chores.
1. Wash the dog dishes.
2. Unload the dishwasher.
3. Reload the dishwasher and wipe all counters, backsplash, and comet the sinks. Put the rags in the washing machine.
4. Sweep and mop the kitchen floor.
5. Vaccuum the carpets. Both bedrooms, hallway, and livingroom.
6. Change the sheets, powder and remake the beds. Put the sheets in the washing machine and start it.
7. Pick up and dust the end tables in the living room.
8. Shake out the rugs and put them back.
9. Re-fill the dog dishes and water bucket.
10. Windex the Television, computer monitor, and the front glass door.
She is not allowed to do a partial job. I reserve the right to make her do anything over if she doesn't do it well. (I've only had to do that a couple of times.)
Meanwhile, I'm running around catching the slack. I do the bathrooms, the trash, the kitty litter, the dusting, and filling and cleaning the Sabbath lantern.
Last night, I heard her say "Damn!" I came out of the bathroom to see what was wrong. She had left the door open when she mopped and the dog trampled over her freshly mopped floor. It was funny. Kandelyn was wearing an apron, holding a mop, and fussing at the dog with a distinct row of dog prints on a freshly mopped floor. The image was just too much. I laughed. It looked like a "Norman Rockwell" moment.
All her chores take an hour to complete, and she makes $10.00. She has a system, and she never veers from it. She does a great job. She confessed to me that two weeks ago, she cheated a little bit, and never rinsed her mop. She mopped the whole floor without ever rinsing. It's funny that she felt guilty about that. She knows I make her rinse her mop at least four times while mopping.
She joins me for the lighting of the Sabbath and the prayer. In fact, she insists that it's time to light it, even when I won't quit cleaning. She's so serious about it.
I'm proud of Kandelyn. She's a hard worker, and she does a good job, and I'm proud also of her honesty. She has come a long way in the last 8 months.
Last Summer, she was 10 and too small to mow the whole yard by herself, but she wanted the money, so we let her help Rob with the mowing. She got strong enough to do the whole yard, but Rob and I won't let her remove and replace the bagger. Somebody still has to do that for her. She makes $10.00 for the front yard and $20.00 for the back yard.
She's measuring the grass right now, trying to convince us that the yard needs mowed.

If you can find a 10 or 11 year old girl to hire, I recommend it highly. This arrangement has been beneficial for her and for us. Not to mention fun. I also enjoy helping her with her homework afterwards, or if there is none, we catch up on all our Little House on the Prairies.
I tutored her in reading last school year, we read Little House. She had never seen the television shows. I introduced her to them, and she is hooked. It's like her very own Soap-opera. She cried when Bunny died, and when Mary went blind, and she gets all upset when Nelly does something to Laura. It's my favorite part of the week.

MsAmber