One of the mistakes I made in raising my first three children was in not making them help around the house when they were younger. Oh, occasionally I would ask them to do a chore but they either didn't do it properly or took so long to do it that I ended up doing it for them.
Yes, I fell into that trap. I let them off the hook too many times and then realized what a mistake that was as they got older and more capable. As I found out with my younger four children, it is far easier to teach them to work around the house when they are younger than it is when they are older.
Once I got a clue that that is in fact the case, I began to say yes to my enthusiastic toddlers who wanted to help out. I was consistently amazed at what they could accomplish if I was just a bit more patient with them. One of my daughters, at age five, loved to vacuum, and was very good at it, too!
I really believe that it is so important to involve your children in the household chores when they are young. For one reason, they are far more eager to help and to learn when they are younger than when they are older. How many times my children would beg to help with something when they were even four years old. While writing this, my son chimed in with: it also teaches them to be responsible, to become obedient and it teaches them skills they can use the rest of their lives.
So how do you handle chores around your house? Is this one of the areas that you struggle with? Do you have an organized chore chart? If you've been having problems in this realm, then this chapter should help you to get your thoughts organized and come up with a good plan for your chores.
Once you get a chore plan in place, you will know that the basic chores for the day will get done. You'll also know who to get after if you find something NOT done! While it may not be possible to have an immaculate house every day as well as homeschool everyone and eat 3 complete meals, having a plan in place will make it more achievable.
I hope that you've been working on these chapters each week and that you're getting into a groove with organizing the different areas of your life. I know that some might need more work than others, but hang in there and you'll be amazed at how it all comes together in the end.
