After owning my Nook tablet for over a year, I finally got around to figuring out how to read library books on it. BAZINGA! Maybe that will cut down on my trips to the library! Anyhoo.....when I was first browsing my book options, I found a book title that captured my interest. The book was called Cleaning House: A Mom's Twelve-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement and the description blew me away.
"I had a sobering epiphany.
“I think I’m raising little socialists,” I said, “the serve-me kind
that are numb to the benefits of ingenuity and hard work, the kind that
don’t just need to be taken care of—they expect it.”
And why
not? That’s what I have apparently been raising them to expect. In that
moment and in the days that followed, I came to realize that not one of
my five children knew how to do their own laundry. Not one could clean a
bathroom—I mean, really clean it. Not one could cook, serve, and clean
up after a full dinner. I wasn’t sure my eight-year old could even cut
his waffles."
Guilty as charged! Our youngest is 11 1/2 and at the time I read this book, I was still making up the dinner plates and cutting the meat for three of our four children. The book was a real eye opener and we've started instituting some of the author's ideas in our home.
My first step was to have them make their own plates up for dinner on Sunday night. As is usual after a long holiday weekend, Sundays tend to be leftover night. It was SO nice to sit on the couch while they made up their plates, heated them in the microwave and cut their own meat. My second step was to enforce dishwasher loading. Up until this point, everyone in our family (and I mean EVERYONE minus myself) would put their dirty dishes in the sink even when our cute little clean/dirty pug magnet said dirty. The last thing I've instituted so far is daily lists. Each day the kids will find a short list taped to their door of tasks that they need to complete. For instance, Ani's list today is as follows:
-Study/do homework
-Dust the living room/dining room
-Practice cheer routine (regionals is next weekend)
-Read devotional
-Read your book for 30 minutes
Making the list simplifies so many things. First, my memory isn't what it used to be so there are times where I will forget what I want them to do that day, or forget if I asked them to do it already, etc. Second, this makes them a bit more independent and responsible. They know what they need to do and they can get the satisfaction of crossing each item off their list once it is done.
There are so many other ideas that the author gave and I am excited to try more out in the next few months. Here is to hoping that this project will enrich and empower our kids to realize that they can do anything they set their mind to!
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