Deciding who does what tonight

It's one of those evenings where everyone's energy is just gone. Dinner's over, the dishes are piled up, and the living room looks like a toy store exploded. We're all just sitting there, staring at the mess, and the thought of figuring out who tackles what feels like its own chore.

The mental math of delegation

My brain starts its usual, exhausting loop. If I do the dishes, maybe someone else will vacuum. But then who's on kid duty for bath time? I can feel myself mentally assigning tasks, then second-guessing if it's fair. It's not a big deal, really, but in this tired state, it weighs a ton.I even pulled out my phone for a minute, scrolling through nothing, just avoiding the moment of having to say the words and start the negotiation. It's easier to just sit in the quiet exhaustion than to make one more decision.

Letting something else choose

So I opened the random team generator instead. I just typed in all the jobs that needed doing, one by one. Dishes. Vacuum. Baths. Trash. Wipe down.There was a weird relief in handing it over. It wasn't my call anymore. I wasn't the one deciding who got the 'easy' job or the 'hard' one. The algorithm didn't know about who had a long day or who already took out the trash this morning. It was just a list and a spin.We all watched the wheel turn. For a second, it felt a bit silly, using a digital tool for something so mundane. But then it landed, and the assignments were just there. No discussion, no guilt, no mental energy spent.

The quiet after the spin

The room didn't magically clean itself, of course. But the heavy feeling did. We all just got up and started on what was in front of us.

Accepting the outcome

My kid got stuck with vacuuming, which he usually moans about. He just shrugged and went to get the vacuum cleaner. Maybe because it didn't come from me, it felt less like a punishment and more like just the way the cookie crumbled.