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Oct. 4, 2007
Chores
Mommaofmany posted on her blog about how often she washes her bed linens. It got me to thinking about the household chores and how we handle them. I thought that might make a good post for today.
My children have always had chores. In the book, Life Skills for Kids, Christine Fields shares how important it is to have responsibilities. Each person in the family can see that they are needed in that family because of the jobs they have. Of course, my children know they are needed because we love them, but everyone needs to put forth effort. I constantly tell them that without them being here and doing their jobs, I would not be able to do mine.
Have you ever been in a group situation that one person does all the work? That person may do it happily or as a martyr, but they do it all. Everyone else in the group depends on that person and begin to lose that sense of responsibility for the group, assuming that everything will get done. They then start to take the person for granted. Okay, this was not a "soapbox" post, really. As I started typing I realized that I needed to make a point. We all agree, everyone needs to have responsibilities...
Anyways, on to my children's chores! We have weekly chores. Each daughter has one day in which she does her laundry. We used to do all the laundry together every other day but it was a constant drudgery to get everyone to help. I decided that each person needed to be responsible for their own laundry. They have one day to start and finish it. If it wasn't done, then they lose some privilege (not to mention, they do not have clean clothes). They have only themselves to blame. I still do the boys laundry with ours, but they help with sorting, stripping of beds and folding and putting away. My 6 1/2 year old even loads the washer and dryer.
The girls each take a turn making one breakfast, lunch and dinner each week. They take turns clearing the table and cleaning up the dishes. That is on a three person rotation so one person gets a night off each day. The boys clean out the dishwasher every morning. We instituted cooking meals this time last year. Talk about God preparing us! I ended up cutting my finger the week before Thanksgiving. My daughters took over all the cooking. They also made Thanksgiving dinner!
Every Thursday, we have our "Clean-up Day". The floors get vacuumed, swept and mopped, bathrooms have the overhaul cleaning, and the stairs get vacuumed. That is the BIG DAY (which would be today). Sometimes the BIG DAY changes, but for the most part it ends up on Thursday.
All the children are required to keep their rooms tidy. They make their beds every morning and clean up what they get out. We usually have a major cleaning about twice a month just to get the "hidden" things. My room is NOT the cleanest in the house. Everything seems to find its way up there from the rest of the house cleaning. I am working on it.
Books are probably the biggest BANE of my existence. The rule is if you get it out, put it away. No one has lost book privileges, YET. A pet peeve of mine is stacks of books sitting on tables No, I don't mean the stacks that are three deep on the shelves, that is where they live! Or books sitting on the sofa where I want to sit. We usually have a "clean up every book in the house" day each week. I always feel better afterwards!
One of the best organizing/cleaning tips I can give is: Don't be afraid to throw something out! We lived in a 1650 square foot house with five children before we moved to this house. I realized then that everything HAD to have a place and everything had to BE IN ITS PLACE. Everyone had to have a job and complete the job. We are in a larger house, now. It is nice, but I still try to live like I am in a small house. I try to train my children to want things neat and tidy. So far it has worked.
We still have our days of losing toys because they were not cleaned up, though...
NOTE: My little six-year-old just finished sweeping the kitchen and said the trash needed to be taken care of. He said, "I will take it out because I am the man." |
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Posted by Anonymous 
Oct. 4, 2007 - You ROCK On!!!!
You have certainly done an excellent job at training your boys. Why couldn't I have met you oh say 4+ years ago. Yes, your 6 yr old is the "man" of the family. I can just see him strutting around....too cute!!