Whistle While You Work...

As some of you already know, I have recently purchased this cute chore board. The girl named Janette who makes them did such a good job that I told her I would try to spread the word to help out her business. They are customizable from the color of paint, to the font, to the words. You'll have to check out jboards.net if you are interested.

Today has only been the second day we have used ours, but already I can tell a difference with my boys. See, I was talking to a good friend who had told me about this great parenting book by Merilee Boyack (that I have put down below). Her message is that as parents our responsibility is to help our children grow up to be independent, successful adults. She talks about mothers who do everything for their children so they never learn those basic skills of cooking, cleaning, gardening and on and on.

I realized through her book that my kids, even at 2, 4, and 6 can help out more than I thought. It may not be done as perfectly as I would like, but they can help. In the book she tells how she has friends and neighbors who want their daughters to marry Merrilee's sons because they can cook, clean, garden, everything that a man should. (ha ha ha). Well, I want all of my children to be competent around the house too! I also came to the realization that the earlier my kids learn how to cook, clean and so forth, the more years they will have to practice with me and therefore, the better they will be at these things by time they leave. (I can hope, right? :) I'm sure that you would think that kids wouldn't want to do chores, but you would be surprised. Today I gave Sam the chore of helping me with lunch. I let him help me make his favorite, quesadillas. He got to sprinkle the cheese on the tortillas, put them on the skillet, and I let him flip them as well. He had the biggest smile on his face the whole time, just as the author of the book predicted and even said, 'Mom, I love this." The finished product wasn't perfect, but I know he has learned a few things today and that makes me happy. Already, the biggest hurdle of the chore board has been getting myself to let go of those responsibilities, as well as taking the time to teach them what they don't know how to do.

I am all about the kids helping me with the housework in the years to come and lighten my load a bit. I think it will be awesome. Right now I guess I just need to teach them patiently and hope that their enthusiasm for helping will continue... ha ha ha.