Work at Home Success By Jill Hart
Mom Laughs By Cheryl Moeller
Simplifying Motherhood By Trish Berg
Ask A Twin Mommy By Cheryl Lage
Mothering By Heart By Cheri Fuller
Jelly Mom By Lisa Barker
Family Check-up By Sheila Wray Gregoire
Parent to Parent By Jodie Lynn
Moments for Mom By Elisabeth Corcoran
Making the Most of Marriage By Paula Friedrichsen
New Stages of Life = Updated Chore Lists
By Andrea Simanson
One thing I've found in our family is that chores (responsibilities) need to be evaluated and updated on a regular basis in order to keep people interested and motivated about successful family life.
When she was two, our daughter Kara, could get dressed (with some help), put away her pajamas, wash her face and hands, hang up her coat, put away her lunch box, and brush her teeth at bedtime. She loved her "chorelist" which was a page of hand-drawn pictures.
Then when our second child, Jamie, came along, we had two chore lists. Jamie did the same things Kara had done at two, but Kara had mastered the first set of chores and was ready for a few more. On weekends Kara loved taking a little stool around the house and gathering plastic hangers for mom to do laundry. Jamie loved his "extra" responsibility of turning on the houselights when we got home at night. For some reason, it was never as fun to turn off the lights at the end of the evening.
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Kara and Jamie have come a long way since the two and four year old era. At 10 and 8 years old, they now do such things as unload the dishwasher, make their own lunches, gather garbages, care for their cat, shower on their own, clean their rooms, and a few other regular household chores.
Now, we have our third child, Andrew, who is almost three, and we're back at stage one of chore life with him. It's fun to start it all over again.
I have found that updating our chorelists on a regular basis helps motivate everyone in our family to keep at it and to stretch for more as we discover what we can do and realize that work can be enjoyable.
© Andrea Simanson, 2003-
Andrea Simanson is a wife and mother of three children. She writes and distributes a FREE bimonthly ezine on family topics. Visit today at www.SuccessfulFamilyChores.com!