When people find out that I have 6 kids they most often ask "how do you do it?" My pat answers are "I just do." or "One day at a time." Today I want to write about how we do chores with 6 kids. Every family does it differently, and that's OK, but this is how we do it.
We started making the kids do chores when I got pregnant with the twins and I could no longer do it all myself. Sam was five and Susan was four. Jonathan was just around two so we didn't require that he do chores. We started with bed making, cleaning their rooms, emptying out the trash cans and dryer and replacing trash can liners.
The most difficult chores were cleaning rooms and making beds. These came with lots of whining and complaining. I began helping them with their beds and soon they could do it by themselves. I have also learned a great trick to getting them to clean their rooms. Instead of saying to them, "Go clean your room." I am now more specific. I will give them one or two jobs at a time. It sounds like this, "Put your clothes away and put the costumes in the costume box, please." When they are done I usually add another job so they don't get overwhelmed. Our four boys share a room. How? We have a set of bunk beds and a loft bed. The twins share the bottom bunk. It works well. However, when it comes to cleaning, Sam and Jonathan can't do it at the same time because they argue and tattle. So I have them work in their room separately, 10 minutes at a time. I'll then give each their own jobs so I know who hasn't done their work. If they both do their jobs the room can be clean in roughly 20 minutes.
The twins are two and I have started making them pick up their toys after play time and before bed time. I will sometimes make them clean up after themselves after meal time. I need to do this more often. When they clean their room I'll do it one job at a time, keeping it simple. They love it when we make it fun and do it to a song.
Susan shares a room with the baby, so she's responsible for her own room. The only thing she has the hardest time with is bringing her dirty clothes down. She needs daily reminders. I try to always check behind her when she tells me she's done with her room or she won't do it.
We do our house chores every morning after breakfast. I set the timer for 15 minutes and we get to work. It hardly ever takes us longer than 30 minutes and that's only because of the laundry. We start in the den and work our way into the dining room, picking up and putting away. After that Susan puts away the dishes and takes out the trash in my bed and bathroom. Jonathan straightens up the kids bathroom and empties the trash can. Sam will sort and fold a load of laundry. When Susan and Jonathan are done, they help Sam. I'll also give them little things to do through out the day that only take 1-3 minutes.
Flylady.com is a wonderful resource. I wish I could say that I stick with it, but I don't. It has helped me establish some good habits, though, that keep me sane. There's loads of great ideas and helpful tips there.
Our school year will begin soon and I will be making a master schedule, which will include a few bigger jobs for the kids, like dusting, for example. This will help as I home school all three big kids this year with the littles at home also. "How will you do that?" you may ask. Stay tuned.
Ashley
No comments:
Post a Comment