I must admit to being all for a little bit of child labor in my home. My bunch is all old enough to help out around the house and I must admit to taking advantage of it. And if I'm honest here, I really don't do it all that often. But then when I do make them pick up and clean up I am left to wonder why I haven't done more of it.
Our regualar scheduled cleaning was postponed due to a broken toe accident our house cleaner had. Now instead of me just doing all the cleaning myself, I drafted the kids. Z. had to do the dusting (which I truly hate), Hoss and K. got to wipe down the bathrooms. And A. followed me around with a soapy wash cloth wiping down any spots on the walls she found. Most of them put there by her I may add. That left me to run the vacuum and mop the floors. We were able to get everything taken care of in around an hour. Not a bad time. Granted it wasn't up to it's normal clean standard, but it was clean. And the kids felt a bit more empathy for all the hard work that goes into keeping it clean. Well at least they felt that way for about five minutes then they forgot all about it again.
This morning I looked around and the house was looking a bit dingy again. So the kids were drafted again. Only instead of dusting, Z. had vacuum duty. Now the house is back in order again for at least another three days or less. So once again I am left to appreciate the joys of child labor.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I am going to have to start enlisting my kids more. Since they are the ones making the messes, they need to learn to clean them!
My kids have regular chores and I am so glad we started a system. They still eagerly accept their jobs of unloading the dishwasher (I put away the out-of-reach items and knives), vacuuming the kitchen, and dusting. They are not so eager about sorting laundry and cleaning their rooms, but they do the job anyway. It has made a huge difference in my own approach to housework. We get a lot more done.
You're absolutely right and I have to start doing the same thing! It gets old picking up after everyone!!
Post a Comment