Second: I am declaring February "The Month in Arrears" - this month I am posting all my Belated posts, the ones that I Postponed over and over again in order to make room for current events (or random thoughts).
Don't worry, February is a short month and I don't 28 Past Due posts so there will be current events mixed in too - but by golly I plan to get the Held Up ones on this blog, day by day, if it takes every ounce of bloggy strength I have...
So tonight I start The Month in Arrears with this Delayed post:
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Try as I may, getting chores done around the house is never met without challenge.
Lauren has some very specific tasks and she usually (9 out of 10) does them without much prodding - she is the proud owner of the following tasks:
1. Wipe the remotes, light switches, telephones and door handles with a Clorox Wipe
2. Assist with or complete on her own the upstairs trash
3. Dust all that is dustable within her reach
4. Keep her room and desk in some sort of orderly fashion (not picky here just must look neat at first glance.)
5. Set table when asked
Hailey is the proud owner of the following tasks:
1. Spray Windex all over everything and wipe it down till her paper towel is dripping wet
2. Absolutely insist on wiping the same spot at least 1000 times because it could not possibly have gotten clean the first 999 times
3. Drag the swiffer vacuum full of dust and dog hair across every floor in the house dropping all the dirt as she goes
4. Take place on couch, get served some OJ and watch Toot and Puddle or another highly educational TV show.
5. Insist on using moms BIG vacuum even though it is twice her size (and weight) and successfully bump into every wall in the room while only moving about an inch or so.
The moral of this story? It is WAY PAST time to assign Hailey some real tasks and make sure accomplishes them in a somewhat orderly fashion, without making the house dirtier or somehow creating mom more work at the same time.
Oh, and did you notice the major use of the THESAURUS tonight. I love it!
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8 comments:
Those photos are so cute!
You are a good Mommy! Kids are almost never too young to pitch in and help...even the little ones.
This sounds so dorky, but get Hailey an "As Seen on TV" swivel sweeper - they're like $25 and they're great for kids - and they work! I love them for the wood floors or tile or anything smooth - and my kids LOVE to use it.
thank you Terra. You are the sweetest! xoxo
Great tasks! We began a task and chore list recently for Max...they also began a program at his school (private Catholic) to give a portion of your allowance to help our sister parish in Honduras. So, all his normal tasks (bed-making, toy pickup, room pickup) get him allowance for his allowance jar, then extra tasks (watering the plant, clearing the table, helping with laundry) he gets the extra for the special project. He is actually quite eager at this point. We'll see how long it lasts!
I like Hailey's list especially #4. That's how I'd like to clean.
She looks like such a "big helper". Too, too cute!
Oh man...it helps that Hailey is SOOOO ADORABLE!!! I love the photos...she looks so proud she is helping mommy out!
hehe loved the vacuum pictures! I can't wait for the day that Sammy can start helping and stop making dirtier :-P
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