Stahlke Adoption

Postcript to Halloween

The best way for me to survive the logistics of a big family is to delegate, delegate, delegate. But there's always the catch-22 that the time to teach and supervise the task is usually much greater than if you just do it yourself.

We have yet to find a way to assign independent chores for each child. But what does work well is a chore time after supper, where everyone works simultaneously. The tasks vary--folding laundry, picking up toys, cleaning bathrooms, doing yardwork, etc.--but they seldom last for more than 30 minutes. Fourteen hands makes pretty quick work of most jobs.

What bothers me immensely are all the complaints I hear when the job is announced. I know that they are just being kids, but my stomach always knots up when I hear the griping, especially considering the amount of time (more than 30 minutes a day!) that Jonathan and I spend on housework. So I decided to retaliate a week ago last Monday:

The kids started asking in the afternoon what the job would be. I told them that it was a secret, and they wouldn't find out until after supper. They were very curious, and even though I didn't tell them, a few of them figured it out.

For those who didn't, however, my plan worked. When it came time to announce the job for chore time, I told them that I hated hearing their complaints about housework, and had therefore decided to give myself some peace and quiet by not assigning any job that evening. Three of the kids cheered, but the others started protesting: "We WANT to do our chore today--it's picking Halloween costumes from the costume bin, isn't it?"
__________________________

In the last two weeks, they still complain about chores, but at least ONCE, I heard them beg to do them!

posted by Stahlkes @ 11:31 AM