When I finally got down to business last night I spread my scrapbooking stuff out all over and had a great time taking care of my pictures. Maybe I'll join in on Works for me Wednesday next week: How to get some scrapbooking done -- send all your kids away for the night and work into the wee hours of the morning. Well, it did work for me! By the way, I do love all the WFMW posts. We women have so much to learn from each other! One of these days I'll add my 2 cents.
Tomorrow will be our first official cleaning day of the summer. Let the whining begin. I worry so much about not teaching the kids good work ethic. I hear all these stories about how people had to get up at the crack of dawn to milk cows, etc., etc. and how they became so disciplined. My kids have such a cushy life, will they know the value of work?
They have jobs they have to do each day, a couple in the morning and a couple in the evening. Things like washing the dishes, unloading the dishwasher, etc. They are finally starting to get used to the fact that the jobs have to be done, and the whole family suffers if someone slacks off. (I was very impressed when my nine year old didn't ask to get out of his jobs on his birthday!)
So now we are diving into and actual cleaning day. Nothing huge for starters. Tomorrow I expect them to clean their rooms well enough that I can see all carpeted areas, including under the beds, that are not completely covered by furniture. They will then vacuum and dust their rooms. See? Easy stuff. They are all (even the 2 year old twins who can pick up toys, "help" me push the vacuum, and wave the feather duster around) capable of doing this. I really hope they can see the joy of having a clean environment. It is so funny that they don't ever want to clean their rooms, but when their rooms are clean, they like to spend more time there.
So wish me luck! If this goes well we'll move on to bigger and better jobs! If anyone has any tips I'd really love to hear them!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Good Luck! I think teaching our children to work is one of the greatest gifts we can give them. One of my most memorable summers, my siblings and I had to be up, dressed, have breakfast and be over to our 1 acre garden by 7 am. We put in 2 hours of weeding, harvesting and dragging around irrigation sprinkler pipes every day. I probably complained a lot, but I have great memories and a fairly good work ethic from it!
I am so glad for you. Yesterday my dd was complaining that I don't spend enough time with them because I am always cleaning...I had a psycho moment where I told them ALL that I would have more time if THEY would all be more responsible and helpful. That is my tip...go crazy. My house has never been cleaner!!!
I really don't recommend this. It is VERY short term, in-fact, I don't think it will last through the weekend.
Stephanie...I am so guilty of going crazy!! :) I bet your house was spottless!
Since I am a single mommie, my daughter is always upset at me about me not having enough time to play. So I'm trying a new "schedule thing" this summer so that she knows what is going to happen when(and also to combat the "I'm boreds") and that when it's cleaning time, we both will be cleaning. At least she's a pretty good sport about helping most of the time. :)
--snow
we always clean in the summer too. I make a schdule of the big things I want done that don't get done all year, like all the windows, or hallway closet, or wash baseboards, etc. Then we schdule one a day. We also have family cleaning hour almost every day, and the kids have zones to clean. All that cleaning and you'd think it was spotless around our house, sadly no but maybe someday:)
It sounds to me like you've got things pretty much under control. My two oldest daughters have several chores they do each day, like doing dishes, making their beds, and making sure the toys are picked up at the end of the day.
I have a hard time letting my children do other cleaning like the dusting, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, etc. even when I know I need to let them help so they will develop the skills and it will be less work for me. This summer is probably a good time to add some other chores to their lists.
Good luck with your cleaning!
Post a Comment