If you were to talk to my kids when they were between the ages of about 10 and 17, you would have thought they lived with Mrs. Hannigan from “Annie” and were suffering a hard knock life. They were sure that no one on the planet had as many chores as they had. I’m pretty sure they were wrong. When it came to our RV trip, it was all about family teamwork and making sure that no one carried the lion’s share of the work. Here’s how we worked it when we traveled with our kids.
The Planner – That’s me. I am an OCD planner. I like to have reservations lined up, meals planned, some activities planned and booked, etc. It works that I took this job because no one else wanted it or loves this kind of thing. My husband teases me on a big trip when I show up with a folder full of copies of our RV park reservations, waivers for things like white water rafting, printed out recipes, etc. Once we’re at an RV park, I grab all kinds of brochures for local things to do and see and add them to the folder. I get called, “Julie the Cruise Director.”
The packers – It has always been my job to pack the food into the trailer. Everyone is in charge of packing their own stuff. We have collapsible crates that we use for packing clothes and such into the trailer. We bought our first trailer when my son was four. He helped me pack his crate at first, but by the time he was five or six, he did his own. I made the kids lists so that they didn’t forget things. After a while, they didn’t need the lists anymore. We did, however, have to stop a few times for underwear. One time, my husband and I reminded the kids over and over to pack their swimsuits. They did great! My husband and I forgot ours … after all of that kid nagging we did!
The Driver – That’s my husband. No one else wanted this job … or was old enough for it most of the time. I drove some with our first trailer, but only on straight, flat roads, and never backwards.
The backing guide – In the early days, that was me and a walkie talkie. When my son got older, he did this some too. When he was about 10, he loved standing on the tongue of the trailer and guiding my husband to the hitch and did this with tremendous and kind of hilarious enthusiasm.
The car clean-up team – This was a kid job. When we arrived at an RV park, their job was to make sure the dog got a little walk and clean up the inside of the car. By the time we would arrive at an RV park, our car was full of snack trash, drink cups, and whatever activity the kids did to pass the time such as movies or video games.
Outside trailer hook-up & leveling – This is also my husband. When my son got older, he helped with this some. Now that we’re kid-less, my husband is on his own … with his auto-leveling system.
The inside of the trailer setter-upper – That’s my job and I love it! One of my favorite parts of getting somewhere is setting up the trailer and making it feel homey and cozy.
The Cook – That’s me. I plan and shop for all of the meals. I love to cook. I love the challenge of cooking on the road. I love my trailer job!
The Sous-chef – This is the cook’s helper. Usually, this was a kid. The sous-chef does whatever is needed (age appropriate of course). Cheese grating is a big one because I hate grating cheese.
The table-setter & Dog feeder – That job goes to whomever isn’t cooking or the sous-chef. In our first trailer, when the kids got older, we were very short on room. This job often went to whomever was sitting near the dishes drawer at the time.
The dish-washer – This was and still is usually me and I don’t really mind. I think that comes from my kitchen cleaning OCD I inherited from my mother. It was my job growing up to clean up the kitchen. She was a stickler for shiny faucets, clean stove, etc. Kitchen clean-up is all part of the dish-washing for me.
The dish-dryer – This job was always up for grabs. My daughter got it more often than not. Sometimes, someone else would put the dishes away after she was done drying them. It was like an assembly line from the sink to the dish-drawer. It worked well – especially when our trailer was so small.
The dumper – Mid-trip, that could be anyone that could tell the black tank handle from the grey tank handle. Our first trailer needed the gray tank dumped on an emergency basis sometimes. We’d hear from someone yelling from the shower, “The water isn’t going down the drain!!!!” Time to dump the tank. The short straw went to whomever was dressed in something other than pajamas. At the end of the trip, this is my husband. He makes sure everything is done right, tanks are cleaned, and all the hoses are put back where they belong.
The trash taker-outer – This was often my son. It’s a good job for an 8-year old boy. In our first trailer, we didn’t think through the trash situation and only had room for a little wastebasket under the kitchen sink. 4 people and a dog = a lot of trips to the dumpster with little bags of trash.
The dog-walker – It depends on the time of day who gets this job. I get up in the morning and do the morning shift. After that, it’s up for grabs. Of course, if we’re somewhere where we can take the dog for a hike or out to whatever activity we’re doing, all the better.
The laundry boss – That’s me. I try my hardest not to do laundry on a trip. But, when we were traveling in a 25-foot trailer with two kids, it was often impossible on a two-week trip. When we ended up in a laundromat, the kids helped more. Most of the time, it was just me and the RV park laundry. On a two-week trip, the time spent in the laundry room of an RV park was often welcome quiet time.
Trailer-tidy – This is everyone’s job. In our trailer, everyone is to make their bed and are in charge of keeping their stuff picked up and out of people’s way. In our first trailer, our bunkhouse room was where all of our little trailer closets were. There were four bunks used by only two kids most of the time. The kids used the bunks that weren’t getting slept in as added storage sometimes (to my shagrin). My daughter was an avid reader and couldn’t go on a trip without a crate of books. How could she possibly choose two or three books to pack on a trip? She might change her mind! Her crate could be found on her non-sleeping bunk. If anyone’s stuff was in someone’s way, we’d say they were “oozing” and it was time for them to clean up. Did this always go smoothly? Nope!
Cussing day – That’s what we call sheet changing day. It’s always been my job to change the sheets. The name for this came about because, in our first trailer, changing the sheets was difficult, and painful! The queen bed was actually a short queen and the mattress was wedged into a rear slide out that was exactly the same size as the mattress. I scraped many a knuckle on the wall trying to change the sheets almost every time. Our bunkhouse room had all of the basement storage underneath it. So, it wasn’t a full height room. By the time we sold the trailer, no one could stand up fully in the bunkhouse. When the kids were little, it was perfect. When I changed the sheets on the bunks, I invariably hit my head on the crank for the antenna, scraped my knuckles on their walls, knocked the curtains down … you name it. Sometimes, a bad word or two slipped out. Now, we still call it cussing day, but it just means we’re changing the sheets. No cussing happens anymore because the sheets are much easier to change on our walk around queen bed.
When the trip was over and it was time to break camp, everyone was in charge of cleaning up their stuff. The kids were in charge of taking care of the dog and setting up the car for their ride. I cleaned up the inside of the trailer. My husband took care of the outside of the trailer.
On big trips, we tied a spending money allowance to the chores our kids did. This helped with the “enthusiasm” for the chores and some of the whining about them. Our trips and our chore system was far from perfect. Our chores at home were similar and were met with the same “enthusiasm” and whining. At home, as they grew up, we had them do more and more of their chores on their own – like laundry. It might have been easier to just do the darned chores ourselves. Where would the life lessons be in that? Everyone has their own tolerance for dealing with kids and every parent has to choose which battles they are willing to get into with their kids. In the end, I’m glad we stuck out the chore battle.
Here’s the thing. Our kids our now 21 and 24. As they grew up and got jobs, they were always very employable. My son liked doing things like yard work and odd jobs for people. He had a little business we liked to call, “Odd Job Inc.” People would tell us what great workers our kids were. When my daughter babysat, she was often the first sitter that anyone would call because she not only took great care of the kids, but the parents came home to a tidy house and a cleaned-up kitchen. Now, my son is a US Marine and my daughter is an EMT. I’m not 100% sure that all those chores we made them do taught them to be independent, but I’d like to think so.
When my daughter went off to college, during her first year in the dorms, she once said incredulously, “There are people here that don’t even know there’s a lint catcher in the dryer!” I said, “you’re welcome.”
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