Chore Time

A mother of a two-year-old boy said to me: "I don't know how you manage 7 kids! I'm having a hard enough time with just my one!" She assumes I'm doing for my seven what she is doing for her one toddler. I laughed and said, "But I have 5 big helpers!"

My kids are learning how to function as a family - that we do things, not because we necessarily enjoy them, but to serve and be a blessing to others. This includes chores. All my kids do chores. We each have one chore per day. Pedro takes out the trash, Maya and Isaac sweep, Elena and Chloe mop, and everyone does their own laundry. I was shocked to find that everyone's favorite chore is scrubbing toilets! (I haven't scrubbed a toilet in months!) Daniel and Lydia have the most important job of all - they put away the clean dishes so we can eat!

Little tip: We moved all the dishes to the bottom cabinets so that they could do this. They think it's so much fun!

One more tip: There's a step stool in the laundry room, stickers on the control panel (so they know what buttons to push), and I read to them while they fold laundry.

Thanks to my good friends, who taught me these great tips!