Family codes and ritualsFreddy Woo writes, "as a child we used to have a 'whoever cuts doesn't choose the slice' rule with cake. It worked brilliantly, but it's left me completely anal about dividing up food - my wife just takes the piss as I ritually compare all the slice sizes."
What codes and rituals does your family have?
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chthonic, Thu 20 Nov 2008, 18:05)
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Fair FunIn my family, a great deal is made of Fairness. Portions, for example, cannot just be equal. If they were, then the littlest would receive a bigger amount, as a proportion of their body weight. And this would not be Fair.
This emphasis on Fairness manifests itself most ridiculously in times of great housework, e.g. just before Christmas. You'd think that we could just divide up the jobs between us, making sure that each person received an equal and acceptable amount of work. But this would not be Fair. Hoovering the stairs, for example, is a much more annoying and time consuming task than, say, dusting the living room.
And so a system of points has been devised, giving each job a score based on unpleasantness, effort and time. Jobs are then shared out among family members (bar my mother. None of us would push our luck that far) so that noone receives more pointsworth of work than anyone else. The fact that this system requires more effort and time than actually doing the jobs is not important. It's be Fair.
This year, I won't be going back home until Christmas Eve. I am expecting a nicely dirtied bathroom for me to clean, the moment I cross the threshold.
(, Mon 24 Nov 2008, 18:38, Reply)
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