This is the way we clean the house, clean the house.....

Kids and chores. hmmmmm!! I think some of you just passed out! lol! That is an interesting sentence to have the word, kids and then the word, chores in the same sentence. As a child, I wasn't always the most cooperative daughter that enjoyed doing my chores. I can recall sitting in the living room and hearing my mom ask me for a good 3 hours, "Tracee, you need to vacuum." I would put it off hour after hour until I finally got that stare mixed in with this powerful, life changing sentence, "If you don't vacuum I will inform your dad when he gets home." That was always the magic sentence for me to 'get er done.'

One of the things I have done with my kids is I try, for the most part, to not call them chores but instead, we call them responsibilities. It's a vital lesson for our kids to understand that we will always have things that we are responsible for in life so looking at chores through the eyes of 'I am responsible for this,' changes the perspective a bit.

When my kids were small, we started small. I remember sitting on their bed when they were 2 and 3 years old and helping them by directing where each toy, books, and my son's collection of dead June bugs belonged. lol!! Notice, I didn't do the work myself, I directed him while having loads of fun doing it. We had a blast doing it and he LOVED having me in his room. Kids LOVE for you to hang out in THEIR territory from a small age to being teenagers. As they grew, their responsibilities grew because they were ready to take on more, like an easy one for a 5-6 year old is to put the bathroom trash into the kitchen trash.

Here's a few ideas of what we've done through the years:

2-4 - Teach them how to keep their room clean as you lead by direction
5-6 - Empty small trash cans, wipe down bathroom cabinets on their level, polish the coffee table
7-9 - Take dirty laundry to the laundry room / laundry sort, feed the pets dry foods, take their sheets off the bed, pick up things collecting around the house and put away, clean off the table after a meal and place in kitchen, around 8-9 they can put their own clothes away that you folded, as well as hang their shirts, etc.
10-12 Do a load of laundry a week, take out the trash, clorox wipe the bathroom (this is not the deep cleaning but a light cleaning for a mid-week freshen up), load the dishwasher, clean up the family room, clean out the car, vacuum their room.
13 on up - They can do their own laundry, fold and put away, clean the bathrooms entirely, keep their rooms clean, kitchen duty 1-2 times a week (clean up the dinner dishes, load/unload dishwasher, wipe down counters), clean out the fridge, mop, sweep, vacuum, windex.

These are just to name a few...and yes, my kids do these actual responsibilities on a weekly basis. Life is very crazy these days and so, it helps when we all take part in cleaning up our messes! :) Plus, it teaches your children to take value in their belongings and to learn one of the greatest lessons of all - being responsible.

One last thing that is VITALLY IMPORTANT - lead by example. Don't expect your children to know 'how' to do all this, lead them, patiently and with loads of love and every once in a while, bless them and say 'I'll do that for you today!'

Now go put away those dead June bugs,

Tracee

Just DO IT!

Ever have that kind of night where half way through the night you wake up and never find your zzzz's again? Well, this night is that night on what is to be a very crazy Friday for me!!! lol! I am one of those crazy nuts that if I get woke up by something, chances of me going back to sleep is a rarity. So, tonight, my husband apparently got cold and got up to get a t-shirt about 3:30a.m. and yes, you guessed it, I have been up ever since. It's now almost 6a.m. and with my alarm going off in 45 minutes, what's the point of sleeping now. lol!!

So, I'm laying here on my couch just resting, feeling some major heavy eyeballs on my face and then all the sudden I asked myself a question - What do you love to do? What inspires you and puts a huge smile on your face? One of the first things that popped in my sleepy brain is, writing. I love to write. I started thinking of how hilarious it would be if I wrote a book titled, 'The Adventures of a Preacher's Wife.' Oh, the stories I could tell. I quickly started going through my life's journey and feel as I have enough stories and experiences as if I were 80 years old. The crazy thing is, just laying here thinking about something I love doing woke me up. And voila - I decided to get on my joyblog since it's been way too long since I've been on here and write. :)

So, let me ask you a question. What do you love doing? What inspires you and brings you joy? Then I'm sure you know what I'm going to say next - DO IT!! Even if your life can't evolve 100% around what you love most, find time to do those things that bring you joy. I can't write all day but I can totally find moments of time here and there to do something I love...you can too.

Psalms 37 says 'Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Have your 'ooh, aaaah' moments with God and then watch out, cuz He will give you the desires of your heart....

Inspired and smiling at 5:58a.m....(something is really wrong here....lol!!)

Tracee