The chore system didn't collapse. The house isn't anywhere near spotless, but it is reasonably clean.
Darren was gone for several days, and I didn't collapse. We had a very busy week and got through just fine.
Naturally, I began thinking of a blog post to share my newfound wisdom with everyone else, so that you too can have a chore system that works and a way to keep things going when the other half of your household management is gone. Then I realized that the very first item for either post would be:
"Have children older than four years old."
That's really the key to my success. Addie and Stuart don't trash the house like they used to. Furthermore, they can clean up their own messes. They don't melt down at bedtime. It's easier to carve out time to lie down: I was exhausted one afternoon, while Daphne was still napping. I told the older kids, "I'm going to lie down for twenty minutes. Please play quietly. And come get me when the timer goes off." Could I do that in their toddler days? Instead, did they once slip out of the house during one of my naps and take a walk down the street? Ha, we would laugh except that we still get a headache thinking of those days.
That's my advice: make it your goal to get at least one child in your house to age five.
-- SJ
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I haven't quite made it there, but I was noticing how much easier it is to keep the house clean now.
Then I thought about what it will be like in a year, with two toddlers in the random-distribution stage.
Mmhmm. There will go all my great organization.
My thoughts exactly, although my middle child is still a mess maker and often rips pieces of paper or draws on things without knowing she does it which makes keeping things nice ...interesting.
Working on the child of at least the age of 4... another year and I'll let you know if my feelings resemble yours. Haven't had anybody walk down the road yet, but I did have visitors in my living room while I was in the shower. Twice. Andrew now knows to come get mommy first, then we answer the door.(:
We are starting the chores. Ben makes his bed and they both "help" me with laundry. Ben is not naturally helpful but he likes to check things off his list. Kyri is naturally very helpful. I can't wait until she is 5!
But supervision is still very necessary. Today I heard Ben talking to Kyri about cutting her hair and turned around in time to see the scissors poised. I am thankful he is verbal these days.
Hey, just a heads up -- we've posted the names of the matches for the book swap, so if you get a minute hop on over to read more about what happens next. Thanks for joining in the fun!
Post a Comment