Sure, I fantasize about doing this sort of shit with my kid sometimes too.

But you don’t do it.

What, are you saying that gaslighting your young child to do stuff they hate is harmful?

I can’t speak for other kids, but being honest with mine seems to work pretty well. “Why do I have to put away the dishes?” “Because if you don’t, we won’t be able to wash the dirty ones and then we’ll get roaches. Do you want roaches? No. So put away the dishes.”

But you would still be able to wash the dirty ones. This is just a lighter lie (which imo is totally fine).

Where would I put the dirty dishes so I could wash them if the sink is already full?

How about somewhere else for the moment?? LOL

You must have a large kitchen.

Not at all, but I’m also not stumped by having the sink full so much that I’m literally not capable of washing the dishes lmao. A kid might believe that since kids are fucking idiots but not an adult, surely

Then you must have a large sink or you must wash dishes every single time you eat rather than once a day. We don’t have time for that.

I love how this has got you absolutely stumped. You can pick stuff from the sink and put it out of the way. You can pile it on the goddamn floor if you need to. Whether your kid puts the dishes away or not is actually what allows you to wash the dishes. You could also move them. But you say the kid needs to do that so you can wash the dishes (even though you could wash them without it). It just makes it more convenient. See what I mean?

It’s “got me absolutely stumped” because we have a small kitchen and a small sink. There’s no room. We could put them on the floor, but we have dogs. Conceivably we could do something like put all the dishes on a shelf in the living room and come and get them one by one to clean them. Maybe you think that would teach my daughter something, but other than ‘my parents are doing something silly when we could just use the dishwasher,’ I don’t know what it would be.

Could it be that you don’t know my situation because you’ve never been to my home?

I have a small kitchen and a small sink. I somehow still understand the concept of piling them on some other surface for a moment so I can wash other dishes in the sink. I’m genuinely amazed by how a supposedly functioning adult seems to genuinely think their actual ability to wash the dishes hinges on whether their kid puts them away or not. Imagine if the kid didn’t do that, would you really, actually, just not be able to in any way wash the dishes? I just can’t believe that.

You’re telling your kid to put the dishes away because it makes things easier and convenient. It’s not an actual requirement for your ability to wash dishes, but I wouldn’t bother explaining that to a kid either. I’d just say put the dishes away so we can wash them. It’s not the whole truth but it’s a kid so I wouldn’t care either. This is unless you genuinely think your ability to wash the dishes hinges on your kid putting them away. In which case, wow.