I’m a different sort of mother than I was 8 years ago. Perhaps some for the better and some for the worse. I used to be pretty quiet and mellow. Now I have to be more assertive and “in-charge” (which I prefer to call it instead of “bossy”) to keep tots on task. But I get tired of nagging and I’m working on that. I want to communicate expectations and then follow through on consequences without reminding a million times. Ok – really – mostly I just want to have fun … sigh… but reality is that in order to keep the family going, work must be done.
My nephew came to our house last summer and commented on all the SIGNS I had posted reminding the kids to do things… chores, family rules, lists, etc. Yep – it’s true… and maybe it’s dorky or a bad idea … but I decided to give it a try so the kids can be held responsible for certain things without me having to tell them over and over and over.
For example:
These chore charts have helped immensely with this. The kids know what needs to happen after school and I can just remind them to finish their lists. They wipe these clean every day (well, that’s the idea). We use wet-erase overhead markers that work GREAT!
Another CHANGE in attitude we’re working on is explained in this quote:
We need everyone to help to survive these days. Each person in the family keeps us all going. We may not want to work or do an extra chore, but it’s part of being a member of a family! So – no whining or complaining people!… unless you want more tasks. :)
We have issues with dishes around here. It’s impossible to do the dishes when Truman is on the loose. He pulls dishes out of the dishwasher and climbs up and tries to help empty it. Anyhoo… we have issues with the dishes. So, one of the changes I’m implementing around here is to teach the kids what to do with dirty dishes. Yes, it would be nice if the dishwasher were always emptied so everyone could put their dishes right in. We’ll work on that. But for now, reality is, that sometimes it’s clean and the dishes get stacked all gooey and tippy on the counter. It drives me bonkers to finally get to the dishes, only to spend half the time scrubbing crud off the plates. We’ll see if this sign helps. I don’t know… maybe it’s too confusing. I guess we’ll experiment.
This is one that was posted last summer. I put it by the garage door so the kids can go down the list and make sure they are ready to leave the house for our summer outings. Did it always happen? No. But if someone forgot their water bottle, they knew they were responsible to get it.
And just so we’ve got ’em all… here’s our 2011 Priorities (used to be GOALS, but I liked an idea a friend had to call it PRIORITIES).
How’s that for bossy? Perhaps I’m on the wrong track, but it at least all the signs help remind us what we’re all about and what we’re trying to accomplish. Ya gotta start somewhere and then go onward from there, eh?
