Hi, I’m the Gallagher boy and I’m nine years old. I wrote this article because my Mom asked me to write it and I wanted to help her. It’s about doing jobs and how to help kids learn to clean. I hope you like it!
I like doing jobs because if you get them done really fast then you can do whatever you want for the rest of the day. We have a schedule where we have breakfast at 8:00 and the kitchen closes at 8:30. Then we have personal study time until 10:00. From 10:00-12:00 we do our jobs and after lunch we have Mom School. The easy part about my job is that every day I only have to do all the dishes by hand. I also take out the garbage and compost every day and clean out the van when it gets dirty. I’m really good at doing all those things.
My family and I try doing different schedules and if we like one then we stick with it for a while. I like this one a lot so I think I’m going to stick with it for a long time. On our old schedule we did our jobs first and they took like four hours to finish because I didn’t like it.
If you make your kids do jobs, try doing different schedules with them. If they start liking something then stick with that. Unless you do all the cleaning yourself that is! I don’t think it’s a good idea for Mom’s to do all the work while the kids go to school and play with friends all day. The kids need experience helping because they’re going to have to do it when they’re older.
My baby sister who is two years old has a few of her own jobs like making her bed, picking up her toys, putting away her shoes and throwing away her diaper. She’s starting to get pretty good at them because we’re all helping her learn. If your kids are little and you want them to start cleaning, start them off with little jobs like my sister is doing. Bigger jobs are too hard for little kids who don’t have experience with these kinds of things. If you start out with small jobs then you can have them do bigger jobs as they get used to it. Once they are doing bigger jobs they can help around the house a lot more like I do.
When I was four years old my Dad paid me to carry heavy bags of salt from the garage down to the basement for the water softener. I couldn’t even lift them. I drug them to the stairs and then pushed them down. Pretty soon I got really strong and then I could carry them down. For some reason my Dad doesn’t pay me anymore. I guess I’m too good at it. Now I carry all the heavy stuff my Mom needs carried. She kind of likes having me around.
My favorite job around the house is bothering my sister but my Mom doesn’t really like that job. If I do it really well, my Dad finds extra jobs for me to do like cleaning out the garage but who cares? I’m good at that too!
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[tags]kids, home, cleaning, organization, helpful, work, job, parenting[/tags]
Photo of the handsome Gallagher Boy graciously provided by the author,
through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
6 responses so far ↓
Chris // May 10, 2007 at 8:31 am
I’ll bet your mom does like having you around! Sound like you are tremendously helpful and fun! What a great post. I’m just getting my four-year-old to start helping around the house and look forward to when she’s able to talk with pride about the jobs she does well, too. I think I’ll read your post aloud to her–she’s always inspired by older kids.
Megin Hatch // May 10, 2007 at 10:57 am
Ditto to what Chris said.
There must be something about big brothers, my boys always remember to do your favorite job. They never have to be asked, and they are really good at it (bothering their sister
What advice can you offer to a 7 year old and a 5 year old about doing jobs around the house? What do you do when you really want to go outside and play? How do you focus on your jobs?
Thank you for offering your point of view. It’s really helping motivate me to talk to my boys again.
-Megin
The Gallagher Boy // May 10, 2007 at 11:35 am
If I want to go outside and play then I just get my jobs done really fast so I can go. Sometimes my Mom has to remind me to finish my jobs because I forget what I’m doing and run off.
I would need to know what jobs your kids are doing to give them advice. If they had to clean their rooms I would tell them, “Make a special spot for every thing so your know right where it all goes and then put it back in that spot when you’re done with it. That way your room will always stay clean. Also, if you don’t like to clean then don’t make messes.”
Minerva // May 10, 2007 at 3:43 pm
What a smart boy!! I am so impressed with your willingness and enthusiasm to help. You should start a boot camp to teach kids how to do chores!!
Stu Mark // May 12, 2007 at 9:53 am
Your essay was very well written, you have a natural, comfortable voice. Very impressive for a writer of any age, let alone someone who hasn’t been to high school yet.
I also appreciate the advice you give. It’s easy to follow and not intimidating at all. My kids will benefit, I am sure!
tanyetta // May 14, 2007 at 11:20 pm
dear gallagher boy,
your 2 year old sister makes her own bed? i am totally impressed. do you have any advice for a 2 year old who’s just starting to learn jobs. do you have a starter plan?
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