Fall Chores

 

One phrase that has been skipping through my mind all summer is, "A lazy mom does all the work herself."  I'm not sure where I heard that but it stuck with me.  At times, I have been a "lazy mom" because it can be so tough to let kids "help" when their "help" feels less like help and more like a hindrance.  This summer, my kids have been doing a lot of chores, but in an un-organized way, such as if I see the living room needs vacuuming, I'll just tell one of them to do it.  It's worked fine for a relaxed season but with school starting up again I decided that we needed a chart they could reference.  My two kids that are natural leaders (and very strong-willed) absolutely LOVE this chart and try to get everything done that they possibly can in the first hour of the day.  They love conquering things!  My two laid-back kids felt a little overwhelmed at first seeing it all before them, but I explained that most of the jobs just take a few minutes and I demonstrated what I expected so they felt better about it and got their chores done easily too.

 

 

Ali, posing with my new chore board.  Can you tell which group of kids she fits in?  I used permanent marker so it wouldn't smudge.  When it's time to erase it, I will go over it with a dry-erase marker and it will wipe right off!

 

After a decade of handling an enormous load of chores mostly alone as I dealt with pregnancy, newborns, toddlers, and little ones, I can't tell you how EXCITING and WONDERFUL it is to finally have a LOT of help with the running of this household!  Ali's been helping for a long time, and Jer has been helping for a couple of years, but this year it feels like the four of them are finally carrying more of the load than the work they create.  Hurray!  Though it does take effort to train them and oversee their chores, it is SO NICE to share the workload!

P.S. Magellan is our pet bunny.  Can you guess which week of Cycle 2 we got him in?