Chores

To chore or not to chore? The reality is that chores are not a whole lot of fun but they are a part of everyday life. It's not something that comes easily for me. I don't love doing chores but I do like having a clean house. When Robert and I were first married and we were both working outside the home, our house was pretty messy. However, I was able to devote all my attention to cleaning when it needed to be done but on a week to week basis I only ran the dish washer once. We ate breakfast (cereal and fruit) and dinner (something mostly prepared or take-out) at home. I cooked big meals once in a while. I cleaned when we were having guests. I did the laundry as infrequently as once every two weeks. Basically there was no schedule for doing anything at all. We didn't even take care of our yard. Robert paid a guy to come and take care of the lawn.

Now that we moved into a house without a real yard. I spend at least three hours a week watering our flowers and taking care of the rose bush. And we don't even have a yard! I do six loads of laundry a week. Laundry day is on Thursdays and Sundays. I vacuum twice a week. Usually Mondays and Fridays. We run the dishwasher just about everyday. Garbage has to be taken out every other day. I still don't make my bed, but on a fairly normal night I sleep in our bedroom for the first couple of hours and then after I feed Noah I sleep in the office in hopes that Robert won't hear Noah when we wakes over and over throughout the night. So officially I should be making two beds that have no flat sheet, only a duvet cover. But I don't do either.

So back to the question. I do chore, often. Now it's up to me to have our little ones pitch in with what needs to be done around the house. So far Hannah's not exactly thrilled with making her bed. But I'm not exactly the best example. She has been really into putting away her toys before bedtime and notices when we don't make her put them away.

I believe that children are a part of the house hold. If they can make messes then they can clean them up. The hard part is making being patient and persistent enough to follow through. Everyday.