Invest In The Best - By VickiHoefle on March 16, 2009 - 2 Comments
How to Stop Doing It All
Do you ever feel like putting a “Help Wanted” sign out in front of your house? You know, a sign that says, “Help Wanted for cleaning, dishes, laundry, pet care…” or whatever it is that you or your spouse seem to spend all of your time doing? If so, you aren’t alone.
So many parents I talk to tell me that they are tired of being “the maid” in their houses. And do you know what my answer is? Stop. Stop being the maid, and train your children to do the housework with you. Is this the quick and easy answer? No, it can take a lot of time and a significant amount of patience from both parents. Will it result in long-lasting change to the family dynamic and result in kids who help out and parents who are free to do other things? YES!
Here’s how it works.
For example: you would like your children to help clean up the kitchen after dinner. This job can start as one of the weekly contributions that they pick at the Family Meeting.
| Start with: Take everyone’s dishes to the counter | |
| After they have done the job successfully for awhile, a month or more for little ones - a week or two for older children, | |
Add to the skills:
|
|
| Build the skills from there one at a time, week by week (or month by month). | |
Finally a child of about eight or nine is able to do the following:
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Imagine how taking away some of these daily chores—the ones that take up so much of your time and zap your energy—could change your life. It will enable you to be emotionally available for your kids, kids who are not getting into fights with each other because they are busy doing useful things. Sounds blissful, doesn’t it?
More information on inviting your children to participate can be found in the Parenting On Track™ Multi- Media Home Program.
2 Comments
Christina
Vicki
Hey Chris,
Yeah!!! Now you got it.
Why is that we parents set such high expectations for your kids? Imagine how much more fun childhood would be for our kids if we got this straight when they were babies and how much more enjoyable it would be for us parents.
Heaven. Have fun sista.
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Ohhhhh! I get it now! Like, this training stuff is supposed to take time! I have a renewed outlook on contributions…. I think I definitely had unreasonable expectations for my kids and now I feel like we can all succeed! Thanks Vic! Rock Star!!!