Good Morning from beautiful Montana;
And it really is beautiful today. I have set the kitchen timer for 1 hour and then I will allow myself to go out on the patio and have a cup of peach tea and listen to the birds. That will be my reward for doing the sweat before the sweet.
Rewards and incentives are great motivators to get your kids to help at home. The kitchen timer is a wonderful training tool to help children have some concept of how long it really takes to do a task. They will be surprised to find that the chore they whined about for two hours, really only took two minutes to complete.
Tip 4
Use those heavy cotton socks that just keep showing up in the folding basket because they have no mates. They make wonderful dust rags or to wipe down window sills, wooden shutters and baseboards.
A child of 18 months can wipe down chair legs, baseboards and low bookcases. Remember, you are teaching lifeskills and little ones like to please and contribute to the family.
Give each child a sock and then away they go-on a mission to capture all the dust bunnies. For super dusting, spray with a small amount of furniture polish or water ( the socks that is- not the children!).
If you are anxious to read the rest of the book 101Ways to Get Your Kids to Help at Home as well the other bonus items: Chore charts and a book for the whole family to read together; Who Does What to Make Our House a Home.which contains a full listing of everything that has to be done to maintain a house. Click on over to http://www.ResponsibleChildren.com for the full enchilada.
Remember, you are always invited to attend our free Thursday Tele-class on some aspect of family relationships. Register at www.ArtichokePress.com
Talk to you soon. Leave a comment or call with a suggestion. Love having you in the community.
Judy H. Wright aka Auntie Artichoke, family relationship author and coach
