Raising Themselves

I've always been the sort of mother to encourage my kids to learn independence. They get themselves ready every morning (with very little prompting) including making their beds, practicing piano, morning work, and getting the table ready for breakfast. This gives me time to get myself ready (since I'm not an early riser) or, ahem, sleep in longer than they do without feeling a huge rush afterwards. When I was on bedrest with my last pregnancy they were forced to learn to do all sorts of things on their own. It was either make your own sandwich or go hungry. But now they have a whole repertoire of independent items that I can call upon.

Having everyone home all day all summer means more messes, but it also means more helpers. Our lunch prep team includes one sandwich maker, one veggi/fruit preparer, and one table setter/water pourer. They love these jobs and will typically go around with pen and paper like a waiter taking the sandwich orders, and the fruit and veggies have gotten fancy with little toothpicks or kabobs as well. Fine by me. The clean-up crew consists of a table wiper (job held by Mr. T who spills and makes the most crumbs, but now has real motivation to improve), a sweeper (Miss J) and Little E clears the baby's spot and organizes the shoe rack (the last job is because he just loves to do that so much). They've become better eaters (because you can't whine to Mom when you made the meal yourself), they express gratitude for those who prepared the meal, and I'm doing less which gives me less to complain about!

My kids have a before dinner job every day too. I've made fancy charts before, but haven't changed out our current job chart in quite some time. Miss J has actually memorized what her daily jobs are now. Once we move I'll have to update, mostly because their job abilities have augmented, and we'll have more house to keep clean. Mr. T can now be found pulling out the vacuum on a regular basis because he just loves to vacuum. Miss J enjoys cleaning the top of the stove... without any prompting on my behalf. And Baby J think that playing in cleaning the bathroom sink is the most fun that can be had. I say use your observations and help your kids teach themselves to work.

We've been doing a lot of packing and purging. I've had to explain to the younger two the purpose of all the boxes in our home! The kids can't wait until we get to our new house and are unpacked because they are certain we are going to get to keep all these boxes as new toys! If you haven't read these two great books, you should:


So simple and true to childhood, but my kids just think they are so great. Love the child-observed creativity.

So even if you're not moving this summer, I suggest you get a box or two for some serious creative play. Not to mention the multitude of fun that can be had with a ream of packing paper. The other day the kids created a map of a zoo... and can you find Waldo???

I'm thinking I may just take The Lazy Organizer's approach and let my kids raise themselves. Only for now I won't be chilling out in my bedroom, I'll be packing it up!