Friday, June 14, 2013

Babysteps in raising responsible children

I'm the mom who takes on ALL the jobs. I don't feed the animals or take out the trash but I do just about all of the other in the house jobs.

BUT I am changing that. I'm too busy chasing an almost toddler, cooking nearly nonstop for these cute bottomless pits, and breaking up fights to do much else than the very basics. You know that I don't like to clean, so things tend to build up. It's not pretty.

This week I am forcing myself to delegate. The ten year old is now required to wash one load of dishes daily. Just one little load, it feels soooooo nice to not have to wash those dishes! The seven year old has to rinse that load of dishes and all of the dishes that I wash. The five year old is now in charge of cleaning up the recycling overflow.

I'm planning on adding a small chore each week until we are all even and the house is staying nice on a regular basis. It's already not as stressful as it was last week.

I'm also working on my attitude towards the chores. They are not a punishment but they are necessary for my house to become a home and not a hovel. I am doing my own version of flylady and doing little bits each day. On the days that the Empress (the almost toddler) doesn't allow me to do much but hold her, I have decided to work on my couponing, reasearch, and menu planning. She likes to sit at the computer so it's like multi-tasking, even if I do end up looking at cute animals to make her laugh.

 Hopefully, working TOGETHER will allow us to have more fun times like this. I really do love hanging with my crew.

1 comment:

  1. I am a chore-giver. The kids know how to do all the basic household stuff. They aren't the greatest at certain things (like cleaning bathrooms) but I figure if they do them 2-3 times a week they are clean enough.

    During school I don't dole out that many chores, other than cleaning their rooms and loading/unloading the dishwasher, taking out trash and scooping the litterbox.....but while they are on vacation I give them a daily chore list that they must have completed before I get home from work. Now mind you Dad is home with them, (but he does sleep part of the day since he works the night shift).

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