“If Momma’s working,

everyone’s working!”

That’s my motto and you have my permission to stitch it on a pillow. We have already established that our job as parents is not to do everything for our children, but to teach them to do it for themselves. If you don’t know the joy of having a six year-old that can get up and make pancakes for the whole family (with supervision of course), then you are missing out! (Get the recipe for German Pancakes.)

Don’t let your kids drive you crazy while you’re trying to get dinner on the table. Give them a job to do, because kids love to cook! We usually put the two year-old in her high chair and toss her bites of food to keep her safely out of our way while my two older kids and I are getting the meal ready. They especially love washing and chopping vegetables, but they also help by opening cans, putting water on to boil, and stirring sauces. I’m amazed by how quickly we can get a meal ready when we are all helping, and we’re having a great time in the process.

It might be a little more difficult to enlist their help with the cleanup, but you are making a mistake if you are doing it by yourself while your children run off to play in another room, to make yet another mess. I feel like a Mother duck who is constantly gathering her ducklings around her to keep them out of trouble. When you are finished eating, ask your kids what they can do to help. My seven year-old daughter enjoys clearing the table and putting the food away. I don’t think my nine year-old has found anything he enjoys about meal clean up, but he usually agrees to rinse the dishes and stack them in the sink to be washed.

Work together every chance you get. Time your family spends watching TV and playing video games in the evening could be time spent more productively by working as a family and building relationships. Every time you start a job you should be thinking, “Is this something one of my children could help me with or something we could all do together?” Sometimes we will take turns reading our latest family novel while we match socks or fold towels.

I’ve had some amazing conversations with my kids while we were folding clothes or making beds together. We don’t always have to be doing the same jobs to be working together either. While my kids are washing dishes I might be organizing the fridge, scrubbing the stove or sorting mail. Just being in the same room is enough to spark conversation.

My kids have a list of jobs that they are responsible for every day, but just because they have completed that list doesn’t mean their labors are over. I reserve the right to ask for their help all day long just as they ask for my help throughout the day when they need it. When we get home from the store there are groceries to carry in and put away. When the baby scatters cat food all over the front porch then it needs to be cleaned up.

Something I want to work on is to stop looking at housework as something to finish, because we all know that it can never be! Try looking at it as a process or an experience. Open your eyes to the learning opportunities that surround you and your children. When you are working together, ask your children what they have planned for the day, or what they’re reading in their latest book. When we’re in the kitchen I teach my kids cooking safety, and both my kids have learned adding, multiplication and fractions from using recipes. If you have younger children, you can sing the alphabet song while you pick up toys, or talk about all the wonderful colors tumbling around in the dryer while you are doing laundry.

Don’t let your precious family time end up with everyone in their own separate rooms doing their own separate activities. Gather your ducklings around you and work together. Then you will have more time to study and learn and play together. Don’t miss out on the best part of being a family because being together is what it’s all about!

Teach Your Kids to Work
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

[tags]home, clean, cooking, kitchen, kids, work[/tags]

Photo graciously provided by the author, some rights reserved.