So I sat back and said, "I am cleaning." She looked at me with her head cocked a bit, and said, "Well, you look like a kind of Cinderella, the part where she's in rags and cleaning, not the part where's she's fancy in a dress."
me - "Well, I'll still take that as a compliment."
Tate - "What's compliment mean?"
me - "It's where you say something nice to someone. Like if I say, "Taylor you are being kind and sharing with your sister, I love it!" then I am complimenting you."
Tate - "I wasn't complimenting you."
I then told her to go find her cat and put it in a dress or something, and continued cleaning. I started thinking about what chores I still wanted to complete and what I could pass off to the girls. I ended up not passing anything off to them, and I thought about that after they went to bed. I have really not held the girls accountable to any regular chores, ever. Yes, they help me here and there, but it's random. I have wanted desperately for them to enjoy being kids - but I fear that I am doing them a disservice, and they are not being taught responsibility.
So in addition to my hope that this year they will continue to learn about and display fruits of the Spirit -
Galatians 5:22-23
New International Version (NIV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.
*Daily straighten of bedroom. Weekly pull off sheets and blankets for Mommy to wash.
*Weekly chore of Mom's choosing such as helping to clean the bathroom or dusting (although I don't want Bailey to do much of that bc of her CF...so I guess I'll have her do things like fold the towels, separate laundry).
*Continue to clear table but now alternate nights of setting the table and then loading dishwasher.
*Alternate nights of helping Mommy with dinner.
This seems reasonable to me. What are your kids chores?
The big kids do their own laundry and have for years. We are teaching Eden now. They are all responsible for keeping their rooms neat and do with varying levels of success. Paul and I bailed out Christopher on our anniversary weekend and it was a GIFT to us. He's kept it tidy for nearly a month and we don't feel angst and shame every time we walk by.
ReplyDeleteChristopher empties the dishwasher daily and does the trash a couple times a week and Paul pays him.
Our new stairs are covered in dog fur if I don't sweep daily, but it's such a pain, so I asked the kids to pick a day to do it and it stays neat enough getting swept 4 - 5 times a week.
The big kids pack their own school lunches. Eden feeds the dogs. They all cook and I would like to have that be a more regular feature. Eden is vacuuming as I write.
Work is a part of life. Making it something natural, and not to be dreaded is a big work in itself.