Running a household can seem… overwhelming. To say the least. Some days it feels like my house will never be clean to the levels I want… and do I really have to do the dishes AGAIN?! Didn’t I JUST empty that dishwasher? The Trash is full already?
Buried in Chores
When the chores pile up and your to-do list seems a mile long its easy to feel like you got in over your head. So how could we possibly think of starting our homestead and creating MORE chores and MORE mouths to feed?
It’s time to stop viewing chores as an adult only activity. The kids helped make the mess, they used the dishes they threw out their trash. Its time to start involving them in the clean up. And yes even my youngest kids can help.
Chores are great for kids. When we left Arizona my husband and I had a dream of the way we would raise our kids. We didn’t want full schedules and rushing from one thing to the other. We wanted country farm kids that knew where their food came from and had real life skills.
Making Country Kids
Chores are the bridge to getting there. They teach kids responsibility, ownership, and how to care for something other than themselves. After having 5, I have realized kids are inherently selfish. They put their needs ahead of anyone elses. As they get older, its our job as parents to help them learn how to not always think only of themselves.
How many times have my kids gotten themselves a fork and no one else? Or got up from the table without a second thought to their messy plate? Or threw their shoes on the ground as soon as they walked in the door?
I am OVER it! I straight up felt like I was picking up everyone’s mess and I got tired of it. So we started doing chores. Chores not only taught them to take responsibility for their own things, it decreased the motivation for screen time, it keeps them busy, and they get an allowance for doing them. Allowances teach them about money, saving money, and helps them to make decisions about what they really want to spend their money on.
And yes, even my toddler participates in chores.
If at first it doesn’t work, Try again!
In Arizona we tried a method of assigning an age appropriate chore to everyone. It honestly didn’t work. My kids tend to feel like they individually are treated worse than the others. No matter the kid, no matter the circumstance- and they love to tell me what is or isn’t fair. This lead to a lot of fighting.
So in Maryland, we decided on a rotating chore schedule. For my three big kids- every single day they have three chores. I wrote out nine chores on a list and then each day I wrote their names in a different order so each day they have a different three chores.
Mostly these are chores that help us with that rush between when they get home, dinner and bedtime. Three areas get picked up daily: Laundry room (where they dump everything when they walk in the door), living room, and playroom. This helps keep the toy clutter down.
Expectations
Three simple chores: Take the recycling out, feed the dogs, and bring out the compost. And Three more challenging chores: Clean the table, Vacuum, and make lunches for the next day.
Each child is expected to clear their place at the table after dinner. My two year old is actually the one feeding the dogs and the older kid is supervising/getting water. Even my 1 year old we are starting to teach to pick up when we are done playing.
But those are just the daily chores. The ones that get done right after dinner when we say “Do your chores!” We also try to include them in others. Emptying the dishwasher, getting eggs, keeping their rooms clean. We have been trying to teach them how to load the dishwasher but that one takes a lot of supervision. We have taught them how to wipe down a bathroom sink, change the guinea pig cage, check the chicken’s food and water levels.
They can get the mail, bring the trash to the street and bring the cans back up. They can dust, vacuum corners, organize shelves. My 6 year old is good at folding towels and blankets. They can take their sheets off their beds and are working on putting sheets on their beds. They always impress me with what they can actually do.
Toddlers are mini- workers
But what about the toddlers? I’m fortunate that my two year old is always watching and learning and often shows me age appropriate chores before I can come up with them. When he first learned to walk he threw out his own diaper that first day. When my husband took the trash out one night I turned around and my son was standing there with a trash bag he had gotten from under the sink. He can pick up toys and shoes, he gets me drinks, napkins. He can clear his own place at the table. He loves to help empty the dishwasher.
Mostly my two babies are watching. Always watching. I don’t shut them out when I clean the bathroom I give them a squirt bottle of water and a papertowel and they clean the floor. I take them out to do the chickens, I let them empty the dishwasher even when everything is put away wrong. Its how they learn.
The biggest thing to remember with doing chores with kids is you can’t expect perfection. It is hard some days because you know they can do better and they just aren’t trying. We have definitely lost our cool in those situations. But trying to stay calm and show them how to do it correctly goes a long way in keeping their motivation.
Learning starts at home
We decided that we would stay home more and have the animals and grow a garden. To really give them a piece of this life- it is important to include them in what makes it run smoothly. Whenever they show interest in making dinner, picking the garden, gathering eggs I try to encourage it by saying yes (even though I know it will take me longer) because eventually they will be able to help without my supervision.
And even the tiniest hands can make a big difference!
