refusing to do chores

[gerberadaisy]

I used the search button but either no one has ever asked about this before or the search button is broken (it also told me that SEARS wasn't available in search in the whole forum so I think maybe it's the latter).

Anyway, my almost 7-year-old is refusing to finish his chores. We have a party to go to tonight at the science center & I told him he had to be ready to go & have his chores done at 5:00. He is busy playing.

One of the things I need to get done before we go is the floor. I've told him I would be doing that & he needed to get anything he didn't want in the trash or put up for a while, off the floor. Still there. I'm even giving him extra time by being here & writing this post so he has no excuse. His chores are half done but he expects us to "help" him with the rest which is code for "you do my chores for me while I play with whatever I manage to pick up for 5 minutes before I get distracted & pick up something new to play with for 5 minutes while I throw the first thing back on the floor". I'm at my wits end. This party is not for me. It's for him. I don't want to be mean but I also want my house to be reasonably clean.

Just venting I suppose, because this is maddening.