B"H
A Kosher Home, a home that is "Fit." In this case, we're not talking about food, but fit for a calm, happy Mom. As we all know, everyone in the family needs to take responsibility by helping out with age-appropriate
chores responsibilities. Being responsible helps kids feel that they are important & helps them develop an internal sense of well-being. Since we are all the CEO's of our homes, aka 'Akeres HaBayis," use the strategy that works: Delegate, Train, Follow Up!
photo credit: hgvt.com
Here's a replay of the events as they occurred in my mikdash meat (home):
CEO (Me): "Everyone come here please, quickly quickly. Ok, we're having an urgent meeting, it's only going to be for a few minutes, so listen carefully so we can finish quickly. Name some things Mommy & Tatty (He was there for extra authoritative-ness) do for our family....for our house? (They all smiled, then I heard things like, clean the house, help us, buy us presents). Mommy & Tatty work to make sure everyone in the family has what they need, clothes, food, a clean house. Everyone needs to help. Each of you are responsible for helping make the house a nice place to live. Each of you is going to get a nice chart with weekly responsibilities and daily responsibilities, some of which you already do, so it's really not a big deal. A lot of the responsibilities are the same for each of you and then there are a few different ones that each of you will have."
I then showed them the cute charts and quickly read them each of their responsibilities. They began to argue about who was going to sweep the dining room and who was going to sweep the kitchen (Not Kidding!). All in all, we spoke for about 4 minutes in a fast-paced, fun-yet-a-bit-serious tone.
Of course, this will take reminders and follow up, but the house will be more organized, the kinder will benefit from being more responsible & I will have more free time to blog, work on GAM GAM recipes, pastries for gam gam goodies etc......
Yes! Time for a coffee!
Update: My oldest just added things to his list!
"Finely chop the rinds of your favorite citrus fruit, and add a half a cup of sugar and enough olive oil to make a paste. Gently rub onto your skin in circular motions and rinse with warm water. The rind and sugar will naturally exfoliate, while fruit oils leave skin soft and replenished."
