We were gone for so much of yesterday that the house was thoroughly in need of some loving care (especially as we have Bible Study meeting at our house on Sunday evenings). Since two of my boys (Tim and Daniel) were low on their computer playing allowances and the rest of the family low on funds, I had a house full of eager workers today.
Tim made a LONG list on my wonderful (full size) whiteboard. I added to it later as we were nearing the end of the day.
All of the children worked very hard today. They cleaned (and vacuumed) their rooms. Between them, Rachel and Daniel handled all three of the bathrooms. I think Tim helped Rachel with the master bathroom floor. We washed all sorts of laundry and put away five overflowing baskets of clean clothes. Tim and I cleaned up our room. Joshua worked on the garage.
Rachel hired David to clean her room. She said he always does a great job. With off hand statements like that, a mother wonders just what kind of deals the children are making behind her back. This sounded like something that they had arranged at least once before. Check out David’s cool costume – maybe my work would go faster if I had a royal cape.
Rachel folded socks for me. Reminded me of the time my parents were in town and Mom stood in that same place working on socks.
Finally it was late afternoon and our Small Group was due to arrive. We had accomplished so much, I was truly stunned. The only thing that wasn’t finished was a small stack of paperwork of mine. All that remained from two baskets full was a paper bag of misc. papers. Wow!
When this family comes together to tackle a task, and is energized and motivated to work, we are a formidable force.
Thank you, everyone for helping me get the house picked up and ready for company. It looked great!!! All of the rooms were vacuumed, the bathrooms were sparkling, the kitchen fresh. Ahhh.
David asked me, right before he went to bed, “Are we going to work as hard tomorrow?” I didn’t know what he meant. School work? Finally he told me, “You know, around the house, are we going to work this hard again tomorrow?” Hmmmm. I looked around. The house looks beautiful. The laundry room is fairly empty (there’s always more laundry to be found) and the toys are all picked up. The garage is still in reasonably clean shape, even after kids playing in their for two hours. The bedrooms look great. Just what kind of work did he have in mind?
It really illustrated for me how little the children really understand (especially at a young age) of my desires for the house to be picked up. They are content to enjoy it messy and lived in. He didn’t see the clutter in the first place but knew we all had to work hard (and he enjoyed the ‘payment’ for his labor) and this evening (after it’s all finished) he didn’t see the cleanliness and was wondering if we have a full day of work ahead of us. Interesting.
We never seem to get to any deep cleaning (spring cleaning – sounds like such a wonderful idea) because we rarely stay on top of the clutter and daily mess. How could we possibly deep clean when we can barely reach the bottom of the chaos?
It’s lovely going to bed, knowing the house is fresh and pretty for Monday morning.
Kathy
Yeah for cheerful helpers! Not only are they learning how to work together as a family to get the job done, but just think how equipped they will be when (don’t think about it too much right now!) they are out on their own and do not have a sweet mother to make the list for them.
Cleaning and organizing skills are just as important as cooking and ‘job’ skills. Not that our home is so clean and organized all the time, but I am with you Kathy, it is much more enjoyable to me when it is!
I remember several afternoons on the Duckabush in boys rooms sorting small pieces of I am not even sure what, chatting and cleaning and enjoying your company!
Tina
I just noticed that one of the chores was ‘wash white board’. Good thing some clever child did not choose to do that one first and thus do away with all the rest of the chores! haha
Can you send some of that motivation to my house?? Hee hee, I have a suspicion that “I” will need to be the source of the motivation which means…hmmmm…what does that mean!? I guess I’d better get off the computer and find a white board!
Good day tomorrow Kathy, see you soon!
Lovely house, lovely helping children, dear godly parents.
Yea!! I love you Edgrens!! AK
It was interesting to see how the afternoon played out. Daniel and Rachel both commented on how it was nice to be paid for their labor midway through the work … initially we all thought (except for Kathy) that the first hour of work was all that would be required. But jobs kept appearing on the whiteboard, even after we had nearly everything crossed out.
I was about ready to quit, and Kathy said, “We need another push to get everything done.” Looking around, there were a few more things that needed to be done, and so I began working on one or two of the jobs while assigning others. Several of the kids had been outside to play for a few minutes, and Joshua had a chance to sit down and read a blog, and so everyone seemed to be willing to get up and put another 30-40 minutes into cleaning the house, with a cheerful spirit. Rootbeer floats when it was all over helped to make it special, I thought — good idea, Kathy!
In the movie, The Family Man, the family goes out to buy some things at the mall, acquiring some “Mary Janes” (shoes, I guess) for their little girl. The “husband”, who is missing the prestige of his Wall Street job, wants to buy an expensive suit, and, in a rather plaintive voice complains, “Where are my Mary Janes?” After a rather childish scene, he settles for an elephant ear or some sort of sugary waffle thing — no where as good as a Root Beer Float, in my opinion.
At the end of the day, as I happily played an hour on the computer, redeeming one of the chips that I earned, I asked Kathy, “What did you get out of all this cleaning? Where are your Mary Janes?” Part of it (for her) is the joy of having a clean house, something I will never really understand. And perhaps part of it is the fun of having us all chip in (pun intended) and help her in what is usually “her” work. I can’t help feeling that she was somewhat short-changed. Maybe I can buy her a magazine or she can get a coffee or something? As for me, I still have a couple of chips — life is good.
Tina – thank you for all the hours of cleaning and sorting you’ve given me over the years. You are a good friend!! When AJ was working/helping me with the kids she got very good at organizing toys. She finally figured out all the little pieces in the boys’ room were either Playmobil or a Lego. Funny!
Jennifer – I’m sure you can ‘motivate’ your kiddos. The hard thing, in my opinion, is that the house is so quickly messy again. Maybe that’s why David was worrying about starting the work all over the next day. It’s certainly true that it rarely stays picked up (I’m looking at clutter and dirty laundry right now as I type).
Cash, candy and computer chips go a long way in my family. Ha!
Tina – I thought the exact same thing about the whiteboard (especially after I added one more chore AFTER the ‘wash the board’ job). Thankfully I don’t seem to have any devious, sneaky children who would try something underhanded like that. Of course, you can erase the list but the work is still there – just look around and it’s easy to see.
We have no allowances or ways for our kids to earn money. Of course, when they do acquire money, they don’t keep it very well (except Jack), so it usually ends up lost before it’s spent. But I might have to implement a clean & pay system. Cheerful attitudes is worth some money.
And I like the computer chips idea, too!