Chores

I grew up with out much responsibility in the chores department.  My sweet mother did my laundry, cleaned house early while we slept, she even would make us hot breakfast most mornings.  She was an awesome homemaker.  Which I completely took for granted.

As I have been a mother for quite a few years now,  I have come to realize she had to constantly be working inside that house.  My room was hardly ever clean, because that was the only thing she wouldn’t do daily for my sister and I.  We were the two youngest out of 5, so I don’t really know how it was for my other siblings.

Our room would be ‘out of control’ dirty, before we would finally have to clean it or there would be major consequences.  So once a week or maybe even longer we would have to sweep everything into a HUGE pile, and then take what seemed like 3 hours putting toys, books even dirty clothes where they go.

With our first boy, we started having him help us clean up his little toy messes as soon as he understood.  It has snowballed into making sure our kids are learning to be self sufficient in all that they do.

So they have daily chores…morning and evening.  The chores are age appropriate.  The 6 year old mainly needs to make his bed, tidy baby toys, open shades he can reach, put away clean silverware  from the dishwasher…pretty easy.  So the 12 year old unloads dishes  and the 9 year old loads dirty dishes.  As they get older I give them more responsibility.

It has not been easy by any means, but it has taught me that taking care of yourself and your home is learned.  I will also add that they are not little shining stars of clean perfection, but they do clean up after themselves where most kids will leave their messes for some one else.

Now what is so enduring about this venture… they still have their little personalities in their chore process.  My oldest who is 12, does a really great job of bed making and daily chores given to him.  He however will get overwhelmed due to the amount even if it isn’t that much, and the detail isn’t always as important to him… Just getting them done is his objective.

Now my 9 year old daughter does not like upkeep.  She would rather hide her dirty socks in toy baskets then take them to the dirty clothes hamper.  She has things pushed in nooks and crannies and under the bed, for the appearance of tidy.  However, if you give her a job like sweeping and washing the kitchen floor…she will do an immaculate job.  She loves the detail and will do it for an hour, same with dish washing by hand.

Now my 6 year old just wants to keep Mama happy.  He will do what ever you ask him, but he is a bit absent minded.  He has a heart of gold…we call him ‘passionate’.  So he leaves his little snack garbage in his toy shelf,  and he loves certain toys that will pile up in one place because they are so important to him, at that moment.

The cute thing is in a week… he can’t find anything in the pile because there is so much.  As soon as you express your frustration with his pile of ‘important toys’, he says “Sorry Mom”, and acknowledges that his pile of necessities can be put back where they actually go.

So my point is..  I believe doing chores is a healthy and important part of my kids lives.  They need to learn how to be self sufficient, and depending on their personality, there is a learning curve.

It doesn’t mean your house and their rooms will be spectacular… it means they are learning the skills to be tidy adults.  I think that the Lord gave us so many years because due to sin, so much gets in the way of us just loving and learning.

I am thankful that God gave me the wisdom to use my experience as a child to realize that you have to start young and teach them about chores and that if you don’t keep up on daily chores… you live in a pig sty.

They are responsible for their own mess… as it should be.  They need to clean up after themselves, it should not be left to someone else.

A great blessing is when you do their work for them and they notice… and they thank you for it.  What more could a home maker ask for?