Welcome to Day #17 of the 31 Days to Professional Homemaking series. To learn more about this series and to see the list of topics, click HERE. Please know that I am not an expert in marriage, motherhood, or homemaking. I'm just a woman {who happens to be a wife, mother, and homemaker}, trying to figure it all out, by the grace of God. This series is just as much for me as it is for anyone reading.
Before we get started, I'd like to offer you the following button, in case you want to share this series with your readers:
We began this week talking about time management because it often seems like there just aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that we, as homemakers, must do. Monday, we talked about ways to "create more time" and then, yesterday, I gave you a few of my favorite time management tips.
But, today, I want to give you one more tip. I like this tip so much that I gave it its own post! What is it?
DELEGATE, DELEGATE, DELEGATE
And, no, the reason I like it isn't because I enjoy making other people do my work for me. Although, I won't lie, that is a nice little perk of the tip. The real reason I like this tip so much is because it promotes teamwork among family members, as well as teaches children to take care of themselves as adults.
I'll talk about the benefits for kids later, but first, let's talk about our wonderful...
HUSBANDS
Because I am a full-time, stay-at-home mom of one, it just makes sense for me to be the person who handles most of the household chores. But, lest you think my husband does nothing, let me remind you of what I shared in my post about writing a homemaking manifesto: his responsibilities include taking out the trash, maintaining the yard, keeping our vehicle running efficiently, and handling the more complex home maintenance issues like plumbing and electrical work. We have been doing things this way since we first got married, over five years ago, and it works so well that we stick with it; at least, until it requires tweaking {which, it probably will the minute a second child is brought into our home}.
The best thing you can do is to sit down with your spouse and talk about who does what. I would recommend making a list of everything that needs to be done. Then, each of you choose the ones you, at least, don't mind doing {because, let's face it, most chores are not fun; just necessary}. Based on your choices, create a plan that both of you can agree on.
Once you and your hubby are on the same page, it's time to focus on your...
CHILDREN
Like I said at the beginning of this post, teaching children to do chores is one of the many ways we prepare them for adulthood. And, yes, if you teach them well, there is the added benefit of you handing over a task to them for good {or, at least, until they leave the house or pass it down to a younger sibling}.
In my opinion, the first chore that a child should learn how to do is to clean their rooms. Young children can begin learning to make their beds and keep their toys picked up. Older kids can take on the responsibility of maintaining the entire room from vacuuming and dusting the space to washing their own bed linens and curtains.
But, responsibilities can extend to other areas of the home, as well. For example, in the kitchen alone, children can be wonderful helpers. My almost-four-year old son can peel an egg with the best of them. When he gets to be a preteen/teenager, I can make him responsible for an entire meal, from planning to cooking to serving.
Which reminds me, it's important for children to learn things that are not normally associated with their own gender, like: girls learning to change the oil in the car and boys learning to do laundry. Remember, marriage isn't a for sure thing, so they shouldn't learn to rely on a family member of the opposite sex to do these things for them. If my son gets married and his wife is happy to do the laundry for him, then that's wonderful. But, if he never gets married, I want my boy-turned-man to have some clean underwear. Just saying...
After focusing our attention on ways to create a team spirit within our family by getting the husband and kids on board with the chores, I'd like to mention one more means of delegation...
OTHERS
Your mom calls and offers to do your laundry since she knows you're overwhelmed with a lot of other things. You just had a baby and your church offers to bring you meals for a couple of weeks. Your best friend offers to watch your children so that you and your husband can have a much needed date night. Take them up on their offers!
People out there are ready and willing to help you. If they extend an offer, accept! I know that's easier said than done, as some of us {my hand is raised} don't like to ask for help or appear to need help. However, if you've ever helped someone else, you know how much of a blessing you receive from it. Therefore, when your first inclination is to turn down the offer with a polite, "no thank you", you really could be causing them to miss out on a blessing of their own.
Sometimes, though, people won't come out and offer to help. Oftentimes though, they don't offer because they think they'll offend you {implying that you don't have things under control... if they only knew that we would happily admit that we don't have everything under control if they'd promise to come and help}. Another reason people may not volunteer a helping hand is because they simply don't know what you need. So, speak up! Tell them what you need. It's an opportunity to bring them into your life, which admittedly can be scary, but it can also develop into some of the deepest friendship we've ever had.
Along the same lines of letting other help you, if you don't know anyone, don't have family living nearby, and/or you can afford to do so, hire help. You could pay a college student to come and hang out with your kiddos once a week so that you can catch up on housework. Or, you can pay someone to do the housework for you so that you can hang out with your kids. Whichever. Point is, in particularly busy seasons, hiring someone to fill a gap may be the best thing you could ever do to keep your sanity... and that is priceless!
Today's Challenge:
Each day, I'll give you a challenge: one small thing you can do to apply each day's topic to your life and your home.
1. If you haven't already, sit down with your husband and discuss who will be responsible for which tasks.
2. Once you and your hubby are on the same page, have a family meeting and assign chores to the younger members of your household. You can start out letting your kids choose their own chores or simply start where you need the most help. Teaching them to do chores will take longer on the front end, but will pay off in dividends later when they can effectively assist you in keeping up with the household tasks.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment.