Welcome to the June edition of the Simply Living Blog Carnival - Around the house cohosted by Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children, Laura at Authentic Parenting, Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy, and Joella at Fine and Fair. This month, we write about what we do to keep our houses liveable without losing our minds. Please check out the links to posts by our other participants at the end of this post. Join us on our blog hop with the same theme tomorrow!
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At our house, we don't do chores for various reasons, the main one being that we don't use coercion as
Thank you for visiting the Simply Living Blog Carnival cohosted by Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children, Laura at Authentic Parenting, Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy, and Joella at Fine and Fair. Read some tips and tricks on how to get your lives organized from other bloggers. We hope you will join us next month!
At our house, we don't do chores for various reasons, the main one being that we don't use coercion as
a parenting tool. Yet even though we don't, it doesn't mean I have to do all of the housework all by myself, or even that we let our kids just treat us as their servant. We don't.
No chores doesn't mean your kids can't or won't help out around the house, it just relieves the idea of coercion, and replaces it with freedom of choice. Freedom of choice works out really well :)
Children are naturally inclined to help and imitate their parents. When they see you doing something, they'll most likely want to do the same. If you want your child to have a active role in helping you around the house, it's really important not to suppress that need.
Very often parents refuse to have their children help or try the adult work because they fear they might not be capable, will hurt themselves or break somethings. Then when the day comes, they are surprised to see their kids aren't willing to help them out around the house.
In order to nurture your child's helping hand, allow them to try out all of the things you do as soon as they show an interest.
My 17 month old has been helping us sweep and clean up the floor ever since he could walk. Sure, I often have to lend a hand and it takes longer then when I would do it, but in helping him, in showing him the way, he gets the satisfaction of learning and knowing he helped mommy clean the house.
Whenever I do something housework-y and my daughter is around, I'll ask her to help me. Mostly she's willing, sometimes she's not. I also explain why certain jobs are worth doing. Often, she'll suggest helping herself and I just make it possible for her to do so, safely.
It happens that she's not able to keep an interest if the task at hand is very tedious, but that's ok. SHe's learning and she doesn't see the housework as a dread.
When given the chance, children are capable and willing to do various jobs around the house. Sometimes they just need some guidance, and someone to make it safe for them, but basically they can help you with just about anything. Taking the time to help them help you while they're young will pay off in the long run.
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Thank you for visiting the Simply Living Blog Carnival cohosted by Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children, Laura at Authentic Parenting, Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy, and Joella at Fine and Fair. Read some tips and tricks on how to get your lives organized from other bloggers. We hope you will join us next month!
- Embracing the Schedule - Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy describes how they learned to keep on top of household life by creating a family calendar.
- Simply: Car Free - On the one-year anniversary of selling her car, Lyndsay from ourfeministplayschool, reflects on her family's decision to go car-free in urban downtown Toronto.
- The Importance of Finding Your Housecleaning Rhythm - Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama outlines how she keeps her housecleaning under control with a daily rhythm. Even her 4 year old gets in on it!
- Keeping It Simple At Home - At Living Peacefully with Children Mandy shares some tips for keeping the clutter and cleaning at bay.
- In her post Cleaning? sustainablemum outlines how keeping clutter to a minimum makes for an easy life when trying to keep her house clean and tidy.
- Simply Downstairs - Jorje of Momma Jorje has found a way to simplify laundry AND bedtime... all with one simple move.
- In Shares, not Chores: Helping your Kids Help You Without Coercion Laura from Authentic Parenting tells us how she gets work done with two little kids and without coercion.
