Monday's are always busy days for us. During the summer, I take Monday's completely off to do whatever I want, but during the school year, I don't do this because I have to leave our 'days-off' to be designated for when we travel. After reading the book, Managers of Their Chores, I have been going about things differently. I have designated Monday as the day that the kids clean their rooms from top to bottom. We do this before school starts. They are required to dust everything, including their woodwork, ceiling fan, and the top of their dressers (which means they have to clear them off and put back only the things that should be there). They must vacuum their room and straighten their closet.
I have never been a 'domestic goddess'. This whole idea of designating days to do particular jobs was really new to me when I read the book, Managers of Their Chores. It made so much sense and I could see where if I implemented this plan, it would make life so much easier.
Bedrooms were always last on the totem pole in priority. The first floor was the most important, as that is where people will be spending their time and company will see even if I just open my door. Bedrooms were done when it was an obvious disaster. This was not good child training. That is why I benefited from the book so much.
At first, it seems that this bedroom cleaning takes too much time and that it cuts into school time. But I decided that teaching/training my children to keep tidy rooms and to designate a day for it each week, was right up there in importance with any academics they would learn through a book. I have made a personal commitment to this. In my mind, I compare the time it takes to do this to the analogy of when I first started to wear make-up. At first, it was a big deal, and it would take me a ton of time to put it on right. But the more I did it, the quicker it became to the point that it's no big deal and only takes about 5 minutes total. At first, cleaning their bedrooms on a weekly basis takes a lot of time, but each week it takes less time because #1 their room it not the mess it used to be because of maintaining it every Monday and then we make sure they have their room picked up every morning before coming to breakfast. #2 It goes quicker because they are getting more used to doing it.
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My biggest problem is that they can zone out while cleaning their room and begin to daydream or play with their toys. Then, when I've given them ample time to clean their room and I call them for breakfast, I am upset because I discover they've hardly done a thing in their room. Now, I check their progress every 10 minutes. They know Mom will be coming up to check and this keeps them more focused. The improvement that needs to be done is that I need to buy a timer/clock that we set for 10 to 15 minute increments so they can start being more time focused themselves.
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The other thing that we do every Monday is check the water softener. If you live in the city, you might not understand the importance of this. We live on a farm, and have a well for all of our water. Well water has a lot of minerals in it, including iron, which leaves rust on everything if you don't have a water softener. In our house, we would know that the water softener had run out of salt by when we seen the bathtub having orange water in it. It's really a gross site. Then, it would leave rust stains on the tub and in the toilet, so you would have to scrub them off with special chemicals that are made for this (time consuming). How come it never occurred to me, before reading the book, Managers of Their Chores, to check the water softener on a designated day each week? I have lived in this home for 7 years now and the thought never occurred to me. Now, on Monday, it is Joshua's job to fill the water softener with salt so that it never empties out. It's refilled on a weekly basis.
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The other thing we have designated Monday for is to have everyone cut their nails. I always notice that the children need their nails cut when were out in public, at dinner in a restaurant, visiting with friends, or at extended family members homes. Now, every Monday each child is expected to cut their nails.
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