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dontlikealaska


 
 
Balancing work and home
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on Jun 11, 2014 (Read 2405 times | Comments: 10)
Hello. I'm the wife of a farmer, and the mother of two teenage children. This time of year can be very difficult with work and home, because of my husband's work schedule with harvest and my son's baseball schedule. I think I've come up with a pretty good plan for keeping the house clean, but there is always room for improvement. While my husband and I are at work, our two kids have daily chores. Keep in mind they are 17 and 13, so I do not want them sitting on their butts playing video games all day and they are more than capable of doing light chores. Mondays they dust the living rooms. Tuesdays they wipe down their bathrooms. Wednesdays they dust the bedrooms. Thursdays they sweep the kitchen and foyer. Fridays are their free day. Dishes are done daily. When I get home, on the nights that we don't have baseball, I do the harder chores like deep cleaning showers and toilets, laundry, and cooking. So far it's worked great. Any suggestions for other things we could try?
cheryllo
cheryllo
on Jun 11, 2014 Quote  »     Reply  »

I think it's great you're having them do chores. We always, even when our kids were very young, had them clean their rooms on Saturdays. As they got older the chore list changed with each one of them doing their room and their colored laundry on Saturdays, I always did their whites so they didn't bleach holes in them. They also did a chore weeknights. They alternated between dishes, vacuuming, helping clean up the yard, etc. By the time they moved out they could do everything they needed to know how to do when living on their own. They, and their friends, most of our friends and some family, thought we were making them do too much. I always said this wasn't about punishment, it was about 2 things, learning responsibility and knowing how to take care of yourself. They way I see it it's our job to prepare them for the world. I've known more kids that have moved out of their parent's house and had no idea how to do their own laundry. Teach them anything you have to do so they know how.
dontlikealaska
dontlikealaska
on Jun 12, 2014 Quote  »     Reply  »

Thank you! I too have been told that I'm too hard on the kids, and make them do too much. My kids don't mind doing the chores, they know it helps us out. I just tell people that what is good for our family may not work for theirs, and if they don't want their kids doing as much as ours do that's fine. Our daughter is 16 and has started to help with the washing part of the laundry. Both of them have been sorting their dirty clothes and helping fold and put away since they were very young. I think that they don't mind helping, because they've always helped. They're used to it, so it doesn't feel like a punishment. We also always tell them how much we appreciate all their hard work. I think that is important. Kids need to know that their work is appreciated, just like adults.
kmt1000
kmt1000
on Jun 12, 2014 Quote  »     Reply  »

My kids started doing their own laundry when I started finding folded up CLEAN clothes in the hamper. They were about 13 (twins). They have been doing chores since they were wee little. If you don't teach them, they won't know how to do it. Lots of clueless young adults out there IMO
sunkissed7787
sunkissed7787
on Jun 12, 2014 Quote  »     Reply  »

I think its great to be having kids help out around the house. I used to hate it as a kid, but I learned to be very helpful and now that I'm older I've gotten so many comments and thankyous about how helpful I am when I visit other people. One thing I really wish my parents would have taught me was budgeting. I know its not a chore, but any little bit of help around the house and with everyday stuff really helps prepare a kid for the real world. That might be a good thing to work on with your oldest since it will be college time soon, and they will soon be on their own.
bbred57
bbred57
on Jun 23, 2014 Quote  »     Reply  »

I think you all are on the right track, I only wish we had done more of that when our son was younger. It was just easier not to fight and do it ourselves then constantly battle. Now his home is in a constant mess. He has no clue how to keep it up. He can do it, he was taught how. He knows all the basics from cooking to cleaning, to yard work to fixing and repairing but the day to day cleaning is lacking and it gets out of control. So if you can keep what you are doing and your kids are helping and learning, keep it up. It does not hurt them and will only benefit them in the end. Believe me I regret, giving in!
artemisaud
artemisaud
on Jun 26, 2014 Quote  »     Reply  »

my son is 7, we started with him tying up the dogs in the morning and letting the dogs in the evenings. He offers to help with vacumning which i let him do, and cooking that i keep him very limited to.I am wondering at what age and what chores are age appropiate?
dontlikealaska
dontlikealaska
on Jun 26, 2014 Quote  »     Reply  »

I think it's great that he wants to help. Anything they can do to learn some responsibility at a young age is great. Thinking back on my two...I had them start separating their dirty clothes when they were around 7-8 and putting their own laundry away around that same time. They started taking out the trash when they were old enough to lift the bags and make it out without hurting themselves or hitting the furniture on their way out. They've been cleaning their rooms on their own without my help since they were 8. I didn't start them dusting until they were 12, that way they wouldn't break anything, and they started loading the dishwasher at that age as well.
anorthcr
anorthcr
on Jul 04, 2014 Quote  »     Reply  »

I saw this episode on Wife Swap where the parents gave each child a room or group of tasks that all correlated together (like the laundry [and everything that goes along with it, like folding clean clothes and putting them away, etc.]) and the children were to treat their assigned "chore" or group of chores as their business. They taught their children that in order to be successful and receive rewards, their business has to flourish by continually being kept up in creative ways all along maintaining a efficient and effective time-management routine. It seemed to work quite well, and not only did the children learn to keep up with their chores, but they learned additional life skills such as time-management, business management, and the concept of "you reap what you sew."
Shay90
Shay90
on Feb 10, 2015 Quote  »     Reply  »

It's great that you have them doing chores. I agree let them clean their own room and bathroom. They're at the age where they can clean they own full bathroom, just show they how to properly. They should also do they're own laundry. You can show them how to do that properly too. www.Facebook.com/parentingisgreat
recyclefraulein
recyclefraulein
on Feb 23, 2016 Quote  »     Reply  »

I am proud of you. We were raised to do chores and I don't see where it hurts kids. Even my brothers had chores. Mom cooked, and each of us cleaned up and did the dishes. One of us did the dishes, set the table, and cleaned the table. It worked well. My grand kids have chores and if they want extra money (like when we go flea marketing) they do odd jobs. My oldest cleans the kitchen cabinets for money to spend at the flea market most of the time. They know the better the job the better the pay. LOL