kids chores

So So Tempting . . . (And a Family Kitchen Clean Up Report)

January 27, 2013 By Nony 11 Comments

We’ve been doing our Family Kitchen Clean-Up Time for three whole weeks now.

We get off track on the weekends, but during the week we’re pretty much rockin’ it.

And . . . it’s fun.

I know. So strange. But really, one of my biggest excuses/reasons for not cleaning up the kitchen in the evening is that I hate missing family time.

This way, Kitchen Clean Up IS family time. For real.

It’s provided lots of conversations, quite a bit of laughter, real-life counter-wiping training, and barely any tears.

With five people, it gets a little crowded, so we’ve expanded into lunch-making.

Which . . . is my six-year-old’s dream come true.

Seriously. Turns out, I could have put peanut butter, jelly, and a loaf of bread in her stocking and she would have been happy.

So last week, on my birthday, I was cooking supper. (Don’t feel bad, we partied hard the day before.)

I made something that took a lot of prep and then went into the oven for 30 minutes. So . . . I was kinda, sorta done 30 minutes before we were going to eat.

The kitchen looked like this:

I was tempted.

SOOOOO soooo tempted . . .

. . . to leave it that way. Knowing that we had a scheduled Clean Up Time, it just seemed so logical.

I know. It’s not actually logical. It’s Slob Logical. And that’s how I roll . . .

But then I looked at the timer for the casserole in the oven:

And I started doing just a few things. Throwing away trash. Putting things back into the fridge.

When the timer said this:

The kitchen looked like this:

Slightly better. And a little less overwhelming for the family.

And . . . if you happen to see my phone on the counter, you’ll notice that I spent part/most of this time on Facebook.

Then . . . I decided to add one final touch, just for Hubby’s sake:

I closed the cabinet doors.

Which took all of 30 seconds. Including picture-taking.

Hmmmph.

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Filed Under: kids chores, kitchen | 11 Comments

Teamwork

January 15, 2013 By Nony 9 Comments

So yesterday I spilled my Slob Guts about my personal grief over not having been the perfect mother during my kids’ preschool years.

Today I’m going to share how Teamwork has been going so far this year. We’ve been at it for one week.

(Technically, we’re two weeks into the year, but did anyone actually begin working on New Year’s Resolutions before starting back to school?)

The Sunday night before school started, we had a Family Meeting (which was really just a purposeful talk during supper). Hubby and I began by reminding the kids how we’ve benefited as a family from my blog over the past year-or-so. We were able to take vacations with BOTH sides of our extended family. We went to Medieval Times, had fantastic seats at a Rangers game, and we all LOVE our new fancy fridge.

(It really wasn’t difficult to remind them, as they are already my biggest fans. Though I do sometimes worry who they’ve told about my blog . . . )

Then I shared with them my vision for 2013. We’d talked about all of it before, but now we were discussing a plan. They were excited.

I reminded them how much time I already spend working on my blog. I asked them to imagine how much more time I’ll need to work if I add these new projects.

They understood.

I told them, “I have a job. We need to start running our home like I have a job.”

And I told them that I needed their help.

We talked about how thankful we are that I’m able to make a little money from something that allows me to still be able to take them to the pool every single day of the summer. We discussed how great it is that I get to pick them up from school every day.

They’re old enough to see that not everyone gets to do this.

They’re old enough.

Then I told them what I needed from them. I didn’t create a chart or system. I just said, “We’re going to making cleaning up the kitchen part of dinner time. Every night.”

And we did.

After supper, my 11yo claimed the sink and filled the dishwasher. My 6yo gathered scraps for the dog and cleared the table while my 9yo wiped down the counters and the table.

And I realized that even though I hadn’t succeeded at making this an everyday part of their lives, I had taught them how to do these things.

In fits and spurts. On focused (though not necessarily consistent) summer days.

And as they worked on their jobs, I was able to sweep and straighten and do some of the things that get pushed to the side when I’m overwhelmed with just the basics.

It was such a relief to know I wasn’t starting from nothing. Such a reassurance to know that even a randomly taught lesson has lasting impact.

Throughout the week, it got easier. My ever-observant 9yo said, “It’s getting easier to clean up the kitchen since we’re doing it every day” and “We’ve had plenty of clean glasses this week!”

When there were more hands than jobs, I had my 6yo gather the recycling or my 9yo pick up the living room.

And as we worked, we sang. At the top of our lungs. And we were together.

And that . . . makes my Mommy Heart proud.

Do you have something you’re focusing on in 2013? How is it going so far?

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Filed Under: kids chores, kitchen, parenting | 9 Comments

How I Limit My Kids’ TV/Screen Time

June 24, 2011 By Nony 12 Comments

It’s summer. And because it’s summer (and summer is fun), I haven’t written this post that I’ve been meaning to write . . . since summer began.

A big part of success in any endeavor, especially one where I’m trying to maintain routine in the midst of a lack of routine, is preparation. A few days before summer began, I realized that I hadn’t yet purchased the timers I was planning to use. I knew I needed to get them, and quickly, if I was going to implement the once-you’ve –completed-your-daily-checklist-you-can-go-watch-TV/play-the-Wii-until-your-timer-goes-off idea.

I realized I should check Amazon and use the giftcards I had earned through Swagbucks. (What? You don’t know about swagbucks? Go read here.) I found these Digital Timers that looked good for a great price, and just happened to scroll down and notice that they were part of a Buy Three Get a Fourth Free deal. Since I was buying one for each of my three kids anyway, I thought I’d get a fourth for myself. I use my oven timer regularly, but it might be nice to have one I can carry around.

The ones I purchased have magnets on the back and can time going up or down. The only issue I’ve found might be that you can’t take minutes OFF of the time you’re setting. For example, a child who is setting it for 60 minutes and accidentally lets it go to 62 MIGHT then start again. And since it beeps as you’re setting it, that child’s mother who is in the next room MIGHT incorrectly assume that the child is just letting it beep endlessly with the sole purpose of getting on the mother’s nerves. She might not check to find out what is really going on before she yells (without getting up) to STOP JUST LETTING IT BEEP! Then she most definitely will feel guilty when she learns what was really going on.

Other than that totally-hypothetical concern, the timers are great. I’ve labeled them with the kids’ initals, and they’re learning a lot about time-budgeting by using them. Here are our rules and guidelines.

Each child gets 90 minutes of screen time (includes Wii or TV).
Minutes don’t carry over to the next day if you don’t use them.
Minutes are non-transferrable.
Minutes are not guaranteed. TV does not take priority over family activities.

I love seeing how my kids are learning to budget their time. Where we live, mornings are the only time cool enough for playing outside (other than swimming). They figured out early (with my encouragement) that it makes a lot more sense to play basketball first thing in the morning and save screen-time for after-lunch/before-we-head-to-the-pool time.

I have normal friends who use timers with their kids all the time. Following thier lead, and due to my Flylady experience, I do use the one on my oven (which is so loud it can probably be heard by the neighbors).

But I love having individual ones for the kids.

While the purpose is to give me a way to control their TV time, these timers work because they put the control (literally) in the kids’ own hands.

Yes, this post contains affiliate links.