I came home to find my 14 year old step daughter had emptied the dishwasher,  (a chore that wasn’t even assigned to her) off her own bat.

Incredible!

No asking, no bribing, no threats, nothing. Just emptied!

How did I do it?

Easy!

All it took was 7 years of nagging, demanding, deducting pocket-money, asking nicely, giving up and doing it myself, yelling and deducting even more pocketmoney.

All the while constantly moaning about how nice it would be if someone did something for me for a change, without being asked.

It just goes to prove persistence is a valuable and admirable personality trait.

I was so thrilled with her and impressed with my own parenting skills, I launched at her, wrapped her in a bear hug and jumped her around in circles, almost sucking her ears off with kisses.

It was one of those rare, magic moments when you think, “something has clicked” or  I’ve done something right” .

Pure parenting bliss.

The advice, never give up.

For those who haven’t already pulled all their hair out, like the shampoo slogan goes, ” it won’t happen overnight, but it will happen.”

But beware of the tiny problem I now face!

My exuberance was so enormous, she’s wary of again taking the initiative and doing a job without being asked or prodded, scared of being suffocated and drowned in saliva.