I have 4 kids. They make lots of messes. I think the amount of messes grow exponentially with the number of children you have. That said, I am always looking for ways to simplify the clean-up process. I am even wooed from time to time by the adorable chore charts on Pinterest that inspire me to create in the name of cleanliness, organization and sanity. I keep thinking that a chart of some kind or allowance as a reward for chores completed will make for a smooth and seamless system for my children to pick up after themselves with no complaints and whining.
Wrong!
With 36 years of cumulative parenting under my apron (4 kids: 12, 10, 8 & 6... you do the math), I have learned one important lesson: there is no easy way to get your kids to do chores. Unless you have Stepford children -- which I do apparently do not -- kids do not like doing chores. Kids like to play. You can try to make a game out of it, and that may work for awhile, but sooner or later they're going to realize that they are unloading the dishwasher and not playing the XBox and they're going to whine about it.
So, what a mom to do to keep her sanity? Be the mom! You tell them to clean up, then plug your earphones in your iPhone with some righteous tunes (so you can't hear the whining and the 'I-don't-want-to's) and leave them too it. I don't pay my kids for doing chores because 9.99 times out of 10, they're cleaning up a mess that they made. And if they didn't make it, too bad because that's what family does. We all live in this house and are a part of this family, and with that comes certain responsibilities. One of these responsibilities is keep our house picked up. All those times we have tried chore charts and allowances, it just ended up making the process more complicated instead of simpler.
Yeh, I'm a mean mom I guess. I tell my kids what to do and they better well do it. We do lots of fun stuff with them too, one of the benefits of living in this house and being a part of this family. But life is full of things we don't want to do but have to do anyway. Better they learn it from me.
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