So it’s been a minute since I’ve penned … Well … anything.
I’ve been doing dishes. And running many many loads of laundry. Plus stopping to pull weeds when what I really went outside for was to get the mail.
Kids are out for summer and all my methods and sanities went out the dirty windows. I’m sure you get it!
“Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country,” shared Margaret Thatcher, Primer Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990.
Balancing the needs of a home with the needs of the family as a single mom is hard enough without also being a full-time entrepreneur also caring for the needs of other families and their homes.
It’s safe to say, I need help, and not just the psychological kind. That’s where these cute little bundles of joy I feed (mostly) daily come in.
There are two different ways in which children are able to participate in the running of a house: chores and maintenance. Chores are assigned jobs, things done by a particular person on a regular basis. Maintenance is referencing the everyday, everyone tasks that simply need to be done. For example: Vacuuming the living room on Tuesday morning vs putting your dishes in the machine rather than the sink after your snack is done.
Clearly, not every member in the house is able by age or by size to complete every to-do. However, every age and size person in the home can do something that teaches them responsibility, gives them ownership and builds pride in a job well done.
Toddlers can help make the bed, pick up toys and books, put laundry in the hamper, or feed pets
Pre-schoolers can set and clear the table, separate white from colored clothes, water plants, and help put away groceries
Elementary students can vacuum, take out the trash, empty and load the dishwasher, or make their own school lunches
Middle schoolers can wash the car, clean the bathroom, walk the dog including pooper-scooper duties, and rake leaves
Teens can wash windows, mow the lawn, iron, or prepare the family dinner.
Often I catch myself not wanting to “ruin” their summer, yet with a little help from the little people around me, we will have more time for memory making and that’s what summer break is really all about.