Put those kids to work!

I spent the better part of my day yesterday cleaning up and sorting junk in Chloe's room. What started out as a let's try on last year's school clothes to see what fits turned into a hoarder intervention. As a matter of fact it took so long cleaning up her room I didn't even get the chance to bloviate on my blog. Three bags of trash and 2 bags for Goodwill later, her room is pristine once again. Seriously, she was keeping worksheets from 2nd grade, all of the Scholastics Book order forms from last year, ripped out coloring book pages, random rocks, I could go on and on, but I will stop. I have also noticed that her other chores have really been slipping lately too. (I have been letting a lot of stuff slide.) So this morning I sat down and thoroughly wrote out her chores. This summer Abby has started doing some chores also. I'm talking more that just picking up the toys in their bedroom. There really is no reason a five year old shouldn't know how to make their bed, scrape their plate and put it next to the sink after a meal, or put dirty clothes in a hamper. It is my belief that children should be taught at an early age to take pride in where they live. Respect the fact that their parents work hard to provide a good life and home for them, and they should participate in the care of the home. Mommas, if we don't teach our children who will? What are we waiting on? Trust me they aren't going to wake up one day and magically know how to do laundry or dust the ceiling fans. Yes, the ceiling fans should be cleaned regularly. We are always so concerned if they know the alphabet, shapes, colors, how many words can they sight read. That stuff is just a matter of memorization. You wanna impress me? Can your 3 year old clean your grout? Now that takes skill.