Then I would get upset and go around the house slamming cabinet doors, grunting while I walked by him, or aggressively cleaning, all the while my efforts to show him I was upset went mostly unnoticed. Occasionally he would look up from studying and ask, “Is everything okay?” and then before I had time to answer, he would go back to his homework.

Then I had this novel idea that the fortune cookie makers should have fortunes in some of the cookies that simply say “You should help your mom with the dishes” or something more clever. That will certainly prompt some helping out in the kitchen!