Anyone know how to get a huge amount of blue sidewalk chalk out of brown carpet?
Hypothetically speaking, of course.
Hypothetically speaking, of course.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
From Lana:
I think it's important for kids to learn how to work and be responsible. I also think it's sometimes a major pain do it! We've used lots of different systems through the years. For several years we've used a ticket system where they earn tickets for each chore they complete and then use them to buy prizes once a week. They also have to give me a ticket for every thirty minutes of time on the computer. They get tickets taken away for bad behavior.
Back in February, I wrote this in my weekly email about our chores:
We did indeed change the schedule at the beginning of the summer, one where we broke up the work into three time periods during the day. In the morning, they were to work on their talents (reading for Michael and the twins, piano for Joey, piano and violin for Lillian), then go outside to pull weeds or move wood for thirty minutes. By this time, Harmony was usually down for her morning nap, so I went with them. Mid-day, all but Lillian worked to clean up their rooms and the family room before lunch. Lillian made lunch during that time. Then in the evening, we cleaned up the main floor of the house while I prepared dinner.
It worked, but since there weren't specific assignments and personal responsibility, it was a lot more work for me to keep up with everyone. So several weeks ago, we switched it up again, going back to zones. We now have two main times for chores, the first of the day and then just before dinner. Depending on what activities we're doing that day or when we get back, sometimes we do it later or earlier. Each child has a zone they are in charge of, so if I simply say, "Go take care of your zone," they know where and what to do.
My chore list for each child:
10-year-old girl: Own room, Practices violin and piano, feeds cats, 30 minutes outside work, helps make lunch, Zone: great room pick up, dinner dishes twice a week
Joey, age 8.5: own room, 40 minutes outside work (wanted to do this rather than practice piano), Zone: family room, dinner dishes twice a week.
Michael, age 7: own room, 30 minutes outside work, reading, Zone: Mud room, empty dishwashers, dinner dishes once a week (with help).
Allison and Sarah, age 5: own room, help as assigned, some outside work.
We're not perfect at it and I have one child that hates any kind of work and is very vocal about it, not to mention sitting around moaning about doing it for two hours rather than taking the ten minutes it would take to do the job. We do the outside work about three days a week now rather than all five. Assigning the zones has helped a ton. If each of the three oldest picks up their zone, the house automatically looks clean. It's wonderful.
The prize bin is full of books, videos, science kits, art supplies, and even occasionally a candy bar. We tend to put things in the prize bin that we come across on good sales and that we know some of our kids will like. Sometimes, a child will fall in love with something at the store, and if it's reasonable, we'll buy it and put it in the prize bin. At the beginning of the summer, my husband and I found a microscope on sale. We were excited, because we knew that such a prize would translate into at least three weeks of good behavior from Joey. Last week, Allison used her tickets to buy some sidewalk chalk and she and Sarah spent the next day wearing that chalk down to nubs (after Sarah spent time playing with the hose, so ignore her funny hair):
We also have the kids give us tickets for certain experiences. A few weeks ago, DH announced he would take anyone who earned thirty tickets out to see the new Harry Potter movie. Lillian earned those tickets through extra chores, then earned twenty more so she could go out to Tucano's for lunch beforehand. (By the way, the movie was a disappointment. Too depressing)
We keep track of it all on a bulletin board in the hallway near the kitchen. The tickets go in both the pockets and on the pushpins because I set up the pockets back when we only had three kids using the system.
We also do Family Work Day every Saturday.
What tips and tricks do you have for chores?
I would like to know your kids chore list.=)
I think it's important for kids to learn how to work and be responsible. I also think it's sometimes a major pain do it! We've used lots of different systems through the years. For several years we've used a ticket system where they earn tickets for each chore they complete and then use them to buy prizes once a week. They also have to give me a ticket for every thirty minutes of time on the computer. They get tickets taken away for bad behavior.
Back in February, I wrote this in my weekly email about our chores:
Want to know a secret? It doesn’t really matter what system you use to get your kids to do their chores. What matters is that you change it every once in a while. We’ve had good results with the system I worked out at the beginning of the school year, where we wrote down the chores for each day and then let the three older kids choose which ones they wanted to do. We even broke down the dishes into four separate chores – emptying the dishwasher, clearing off and wiping counters and tables, filling up the dishwasher, and sweeping. It worked well because no one had too much of the chores and each day was something different. Joey might have lots of kitchen duties one day and then none the next. After a few months, the kids (with the exception of Lillian, as usual) were not as motivated, so I changed it up a bit, re-working a few of the chores and adding two “Help, Mom!” boxes. If they had an extra tough job, they could use one of their “help moms.” If not, then they’d earn extra tickets for the empty boxes. The chore charts were posted on our bulletin board and filled in each week, then exchanged on Monday for tickets the kids could use towards prizes and privileges. It worked for a few months pretty well.
But lately, all but Lillian have been balking, “forgetting,” or pouting their way through their chores. When that happens, it’s tempting to push harder with the system you’ve got, but I’ve found that it works best to change it significantly. A new system sometimes gets motivation going again. So now, we have zones. Lillian has empty dishwasher, kitchen garbage, feeding the cats and cleaning their litter, and dinner helper. Joey has the great room, kitchen pick-up (non-food items like backpacks, socks, shoes, etc.), and the front room, and Michael has the mudroom and the downstairs family room. Then we all – including either mom or dad – are in charge of cleaning the kitchen after meals. It’s been working great the last two weeks, and it has simplified things somewhat. I’m sure that by the time summer hits, though, it will be time for a new system again, this time one that incorporates Sarah and Allison a bit more.
We did indeed change the schedule at the beginning of the summer, one where we broke up the work into three time periods during the day. In the morning, they were to work on their talents (reading for Michael and the twins, piano for Joey, piano and violin for Lillian), then go outside to pull weeds or move wood for thirty minutes. By this time, Harmony was usually down for her morning nap, so I went with them. Mid-day, all but Lillian worked to clean up their rooms and the family room before lunch. Lillian made lunch during that time. Then in the evening, we cleaned up the main floor of the house while I prepared dinner.
It worked, but since there weren't specific assignments and personal responsibility, it was a lot more work for me to keep up with everyone. So several weeks ago, we switched it up again, going back to zones. We now have two main times for chores, the first of the day and then just before dinner. Depending on what activities we're doing that day or when we get back, sometimes we do it later or earlier. Each child has a zone they are in charge of, so if I simply say, "Go take care of your zone," they know where and what to do.
My chore list for each child:
10-year-old girl: Own room, Practices violin and piano, feeds cats, 30 minutes outside work, helps make lunch, Zone: great room pick up, dinner dishes twice a week
Joey, age 8.5: own room, 40 minutes outside work (wanted to do this rather than practice piano), Zone: family room, dinner dishes twice a week.
Michael, age 7: own room, 30 minutes outside work, reading, Zone: Mud room, empty dishwashers, dinner dishes once a week (with help).
Allison and Sarah, age 5: own room, help as assigned, some outside work.
We're not perfect at it and I have one child that hates any kind of work and is very vocal about it, not to mention sitting around moaning about doing it for two hours rather than taking the ten minutes it would take to do the job. We do the outside work about three days a week now rather than all five. Assigning the zones has helped a ton. If each of the three oldest picks up their zone, the house automatically looks clean. It's wonderful.
The prize bin is full of books, videos, science kits, art supplies, and even occasionally a candy bar. We tend to put things in the prize bin that we come across on good sales and that we know some of our kids will like. Sometimes, a child will fall in love with something at the store, and if it's reasonable, we'll buy it and put it in the prize bin. At the beginning of the summer, my husband and I found a microscope on sale. We were excited, because we knew that such a prize would translate into at least three weeks of good behavior from Joey. Last week, Allison used her tickets to buy some sidewalk chalk and she and Sarah spent the next day wearing that chalk down to nubs (after Sarah spent time playing with the hose, so ignore her funny hair):
We also have the kids give us tickets for certain experiences. A few weeks ago, DH announced he would take anyone who earned thirty tickets out to see the new Harry Potter movie. Lillian earned those tickets through extra chores, then earned twenty more so she could go out to Tucano's for lunch beforehand. (By the way, the movie was a disappointment. Too depressing)We keep track of it all on a bulletin board in the hallway near the kitchen. The tickets go in both the pockets and on the pushpins because I set up the pockets back when we only had three kids using the system.
We also do Family Work Day every Saturday.What tips and tricks do you have for chores?
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Allison rescued a mouse on Tuesday from the clutches of our cat. His prospects weren't looking so great. He was cute, healthy, and active, but he was also very small, so young that his eyes aren't even open yet. We've been feeding him formula from a dropper (you know, that free stuff they send you in the mail even though you're breastfeeding?), and Allison loves him with all her heart. In her prayers Tuesday night, she said, "Thank you I caught a mouse, and please bless him not to die."
So far, so good. Allison is in charge of the mouse, but I've made Joseph responsible for feeding him every few hours because I'm not totally stupid. Allison is very enthusiastic but a bit too much enthusiasm could kill little Scampers.
Watch the video to hear Allison describe her mouse-catching technique:
So far, so good. Allison is in charge of the mouse, but I've made Joseph responsible for feeding him every few hours because I'm not totally stupid. Allison is very enthusiastic but a bit too much enthusiasm could kill little Scampers.
Watch the video to hear Allison describe her mouse-catching technique:
I hear those words often at my house, and I don't know about you, but kids' art supplies can get SO messy. Crayons never quite make it back into their box, marker lids are easily lost, and kids are often raiding my stash of pens and pencils so that just when I need one, I can't find it.
We solved some of these problems a couple years ago by introducing each child to their own "art bin." We keep them in the office closet for them to pull out and bring to the kitchen table when they want to color. Inside is a notebook, some paper, coloring books, and a pencil box to hold their own art supplies. Every six months or so, when the bin gets overflowing and the crayons and colored pencils are mixed in with the layers of papers, we go through and purge a lot of the extra papers, and organize again the crayons, markers, and other supplies.
On my "to do" list all summer has been to re-organize the kids' art bins. Yesterday, I was happy I'd put it off, because I found these great baskets at our local Buy Low for 88 cents (there were lots left if you live in my area, so head on over!)! I picked up seven of them and today some of the kids helped me set them up. And yes, I did make one for Harmony even though she's still too young to care. I figure that way, at least I will be able to find some supplies when I'm in quick need.
One of the problems with our old system is that the crayons and markers and such never ended up back in the pencil box. This will work better because there's no opening and closing or digging through to find things. Just a sweet little handle and everything's at their fingertips.
Everyone got crayons, kid scissors, colored pencils, a small pencil sharpener and watercolor paint in their bin. The older three kids also got glue and markers (I've found Sarah and Allison just will not put those lids back on, no matter how many reminders I give them).
Their old bins are still there, but they only have paper, stickers, and coloring books in them now.
How do you organize your coloring supplies?
We solved some of these problems a couple years ago by introducing each child to their own "art bin." We keep them in the office closet for them to pull out and bring to the kitchen table when they want to color. Inside is a notebook, some paper, coloring books, and a pencil box to hold their own art supplies. Every six months or so, when the bin gets overflowing and the crayons and colored pencils are mixed in with the layers of papers, we go through and purge a lot of the extra papers, and organize again the crayons, markers, and other supplies.
On my "to do" list all summer has been to re-organize the kids' art bins. Yesterday, I was happy I'd put it off, because I found these great baskets at our local Buy Low for 88 cents (there were lots left if you live in my area, so head on over!)! I picked up seven of them and today some of the kids helped me set them up. And yes, I did make one for Harmony even though she's still too young to care. I figure that way, at least I will be able to find some supplies when I'm in quick need.
One of the problems with our old system is that the crayons and markers and such never ended up back in the pencil box. This will work better because there's no opening and closing or digging through to find things. Just a sweet little handle and everything's at their fingertips.
Everyone got crayons, kid scissors, colored pencils, a small pencil sharpener and watercolor paint in their bin. The older three kids also got glue and markers (I've found Sarah and Allison just will not put those lids back on, no matter how many reminders I give them).
Their old bins are still there, but they only have paper, stickers, and coloring books in them now. How do you organize your coloring supplies?
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
From the Depews:
This is a hard one for me to answer. There's lots of challenges with having a large family, but which is the biggest?
I thought about writing about the loneliness I feel sometimes as a mother of a large family. I have a few close friends who also have their hands full, but otherwise, I usually feel I'm headed down a path with very few mentors to guide me. I know personally only a few women who have more children than I do. I sometimes wish I had a list of a dozen mothers who had done this before that I could call with my questions. But I've also discovered that I can learn from lots of amazing women who have all sorts of family dynamics, from single to childless to married with lots of children.
Then I thought about the logistics, but I don't think it's a big issue; a lot of the work of a family has to be done whether you have one child or a dozen -- a meal has to be made every night, for instance, and it really doesn't take much longer to cook larger portions. Grocery shopping has to be done and while we buy more fruit, for instance, we probably don't buy it more often than a smaller family. Many of our summer activities don't take much more time either. Sure, it might take a bit longer for everyone to find their swimming suits and pool toys and the sunscreen takes longer to lather on more bodies, but once we get to the pool, everyone's entertained. And it takes no more time to take seven kids to the movies or the museum than it does to take one.
The constant messes everywhere and the way the housework multiplies can be a big challenge, but part of that in our house is a function of having our children so close together and so young. As they get older, I fully anticipate that getting the dishes done and cleaning the house will get easier, and that those many hands really will make light work.
In the meantime, though, another challenge I could address is the struggle of teaching a lot of kids how to be responsible and how to work. There's just not enough of me to go around during our work periods sometimes and it is tough to take the individual time to train the younger children while simultaneously waging a battle with a certain older child who thinks that because he hates to work, he shouldn't have to. But even there, I find it can be done, not perfectly, but it's happening. I'm learning to be more creative and find new solutions to various problems. While that is an issue that is occupying a large bit of my emotional energy this summer, it probably isn't the biggest challenge.
A lot of people assume that the biggest challenge in a large family is finding individual time for each child, but I haven't found that to be very difficult at all. I'm home, available, and sensitive to the needs of each child, and my husband is also very involved. All of my children are loved and cherished. We are constantly telling each one why we love her or what a great kid he is. I thank my children for what they do for our family and I apologize when I make mistakes. I praise them each for the good things they do and I express my confidence in them. We pray for each of our children by name daily and try hard to be in tune to their needs. And frankly, my children get a lot of attention and love from each other. Harmony lights up when her sisters gather around her to talk to her and tickle her. Eliza loves tagging after the twins as they explore outside. Michael's reading improved tenfold the last half of first grade because an older brother took time to encourage and listen to him read every night. Lillian came over to me at the pool yesterday and asked me to take one of the twins down the waterslide, "so I can have an excuse to play with Harmony." My children are blessed to be loved by many siblings as well as their parents.
I've read criticisms of large families that divide up the hours in the day by the number of children and then say, "See, there's only x amount of minutes available in that family per child. That's not enough time." That kind of thinking is just plain wrong. Children are not an assembly line or a formula. You don't divide up your day and say, "Okay, child #4, it's now your turn for 'quality time!' " Being together, working, playing, or relaxing, nourishing relationships both individually and collectively, happens in all the hours in a day, whether you are focused on it or not. Most of the moments I cherish with my children happen while we are pursuing other goals; while we're outside pulling weeds and one comes over to show me their full bucket and grins as I exclaim over the size of those weeds and their intact roots, for instance, or when I find that one time this week when my son cleaned his zone without complaining and I praise him to the skies. I love listening to Lillian read the scriptures in the morning while I gather three little girls on my lap and whisper to them how lucky I am to have three special girls. Michael is a grouch in the mornings and lately, he hasn't wanted to come out. So my husband goes in, pulls him out upside-down by his feet and swings him around. He laughs and says, "Do it again, Daddy!" Lillian and Joey both love to go on walks with me in the evenings, and I love having them one of them all to myself for those forty minutes or so, hearing their thoughts and enjoying their individuality. Sometimes we've had really amazing conversations and other times we don't find much to talk about at all. The joys of mothering come in moments, and there are lots of unspectacular ones that add up to nourished children, children who feel securely loved by all of their family, not just their mom or dad.
Some of the other challenges I considered and discarded are carving out time for yourself, handling exhaustion and lack of sleep, dealing with difficult children, or developing the patience and unselfishness needed in a large family. But even these are not the hardest for me.
So what's left? What's harder than all of these? I might change my mind later, but I think the hardest thing for me right now is coming to peace with the fact that nothing will ever be done as well as I want it to be. It's probably a problem felt universally by mothers, but I feel it keenly. I have a good friend who has six children. Every so often, we call each other and cry out, "I'm drowning!" It's easy to get buried by the household tasks alone. I've been mopping my floors once a week for the last month, but if you walked in at any given moment, you'd probably think they hadn't been mopped in months. The piles of laundry that multiply on their own. The kitchen -- sometime I'd like to do a photo essay on how messy that room gets and how quickly. I feel like I could spend all day just cleaning the kitchen and still not have it up to my standards. On top of the cleaning, there's the hundreds of little things that have to be done to maintain the household. The lightbulbs to be switched, the repairman to be called, the bill that needs to be clarified. Then there's the important nurturing tasks of raising children. Reading to them, helping with homework, helping them to be responsible with chores, plus mundane things like making sure their fingernails are clipped and that there are enough socks in the house without holes in them. Realizing that almost every pair of pants one son owns has holes in the knees but that as it's January, it's neither warm enough for him to go to school in shorts nor the right time of year for school uniform pants to be on sale. The little frustrating things can add up to big feelings of failure if we allow them to. My friend Michelle, a mother of nine, wrote a great post on her blog about this very issue, entitled, "Good Enough," about how important it is to come to terms with not having the perfect, clean house you dream about.
Beyond the household, homemaking tasks are the many pursuits that have to be put aside for the time being. It's so easy for women, and it's almost become a cliche, to compare our weaknesses to one another's strengths. Even if you're good at something, there's always someone who is better. I have a long list of hobbies I really want to be good at, if only I had the time to pursue them, along with a list of friends who are much, much better at those things than me. There's blogging (Kacy), photography (Chalice, Toni), writing (Katie), exercise (Kelli), Photoshop (pretty much everyone who posts on the digiscrapping galleries I don't have time to frequent anymore), scrapbooking (Angie), and even birthing babies (Rachel). Then there's the intangible qualities I want to develop. My friend Rachel has a serenity, patience, and dedication to her children that I admire and seek to emulate. I admire Kelly for the way she makes everyone feel important and special. Meradith is really good at enjoying her marriage. Allison deals with tough challenges with grace and humor.
While it's good to admire and appreciate other's gifts and talents, it is wrong to discount our own and become discouraged. Part of my struggle with life is being content with my place at this point in time. Knowing intellectually and feeling deeply that the work I'm doing with my family is important helps me to be patient with myself and all the things I don't have time for right now. The closer I come to my Heavenly Father, the more I feel my own worth and the blessing of where I am and what I'm doing with my life. I know it sounds trite, but "bloom where you are planted," is a true principle -- that little spot of earth is the place you've been given. Thrive in it. If you can learn from other people things that help you, do so, but don't compare and get down on yourself. Be your own kind of person and be thankful for your own gifts.
So for me, my hardest challenge is constantly wanting to do and be more, but having to be content with less. Finding peace with "good enough," putting my priorities in proper order, and learning to be grateful for what I've been given while still striving towards perfection. And above all, reminding myself constantly that the unseen, simple work of nurturing that takes up the majority of my efforts is worth all that I can give it.
Anyone have any thoughts or ideas to add? What's the biggest challenge you face, whatever the size of your family?
What is the biggest challenge you face with large family? I can imagine the logistics are daunting - finding cars big enough to fit everyone, figuring out how to get everyone where they need to be and when, cooking, cleaning, finding the time to get it all done, while still having a little time for yourself, too.
This is a hard one for me to answer. There's lots of challenges with having a large family, but which is the biggest?
I thought about writing about the loneliness I feel sometimes as a mother of a large family. I have a few close friends who also have their hands full, but otherwise, I usually feel I'm headed down a path with very few mentors to guide me. I know personally only a few women who have more children than I do. I sometimes wish I had a list of a dozen mothers who had done this before that I could call with my questions. But I've also discovered that I can learn from lots of amazing women who have all sorts of family dynamics, from single to childless to married with lots of children.
Then I thought about the logistics, but I don't think it's a big issue; a lot of the work of a family has to be done whether you have one child or a dozen -- a meal has to be made every night, for instance, and it really doesn't take much longer to cook larger portions. Grocery shopping has to be done and while we buy more fruit, for instance, we probably don't buy it more often than a smaller family. Many of our summer activities don't take much more time either. Sure, it might take a bit longer for everyone to find their swimming suits and pool toys and the sunscreen takes longer to lather on more bodies, but once we get to the pool, everyone's entertained. And it takes no more time to take seven kids to the movies or the museum than it does to take one.
The constant messes everywhere and the way the housework multiplies can be a big challenge, but part of that in our house is a function of having our children so close together and so young. As they get older, I fully anticipate that getting the dishes done and cleaning the house will get easier, and that those many hands really will make light work.
In the meantime, though, another challenge I could address is the struggle of teaching a lot of kids how to be responsible and how to work. There's just not enough of me to go around during our work periods sometimes and it is tough to take the individual time to train the younger children while simultaneously waging a battle with a certain older child who thinks that because he hates to work, he shouldn't have to. But even there, I find it can be done, not perfectly, but it's happening. I'm learning to be more creative and find new solutions to various problems. While that is an issue that is occupying a large bit of my emotional energy this summer, it probably isn't the biggest challenge.
A lot of people assume that the biggest challenge in a large family is finding individual time for each child, but I haven't found that to be very difficult at all. I'm home, available, and sensitive to the needs of each child, and my husband is also very involved. All of my children are loved and cherished. We are constantly telling each one why we love her or what a great kid he is. I thank my children for what they do for our family and I apologize when I make mistakes. I praise them each for the good things they do and I express my confidence in them. We pray for each of our children by name daily and try hard to be in tune to their needs. And frankly, my children get a lot of attention and love from each other. Harmony lights up when her sisters gather around her to talk to her and tickle her. Eliza loves tagging after the twins as they explore outside. Michael's reading improved tenfold the last half of first grade because an older brother took time to encourage and listen to him read every night. Lillian came over to me at the pool yesterday and asked me to take one of the twins down the waterslide, "so I can have an excuse to play with Harmony." My children are blessed to be loved by many siblings as well as their parents.
I've read criticisms of large families that divide up the hours in the day by the number of children and then say, "See, there's only x amount of minutes available in that family per child. That's not enough time." That kind of thinking is just plain wrong. Children are not an assembly line or a formula. You don't divide up your day and say, "Okay, child #4, it's now your turn for 'quality time!' " Being together, working, playing, or relaxing, nourishing relationships both individually and collectively, happens in all the hours in a day, whether you are focused on it or not. Most of the moments I cherish with my children happen while we are pursuing other goals; while we're outside pulling weeds and one comes over to show me their full bucket and grins as I exclaim over the size of those weeds and their intact roots, for instance, or when I find that one time this week when my son cleaned his zone without complaining and I praise him to the skies. I love listening to Lillian read the scriptures in the morning while I gather three little girls on my lap and whisper to them how lucky I am to have three special girls. Michael is a grouch in the mornings and lately, he hasn't wanted to come out. So my husband goes in, pulls him out upside-down by his feet and swings him around. He laughs and says, "Do it again, Daddy!" Lillian and Joey both love to go on walks with me in the evenings, and I love having them one of them all to myself for those forty minutes or so, hearing their thoughts and enjoying their individuality. Sometimes we've had really amazing conversations and other times we don't find much to talk about at all. The joys of mothering come in moments, and there are lots of unspectacular ones that add up to nourished children, children who feel securely loved by all of their family, not just their mom or dad.
Some of the other challenges I considered and discarded are carving out time for yourself, handling exhaustion and lack of sleep, dealing with difficult children, or developing the patience and unselfishness needed in a large family. But even these are not the hardest for me.
So what's left? What's harder than all of these? I might change my mind later, but I think the hardest thing for me right now is coming to peace with the fact that nothing will ever be done as well as I want it to be. It's probably a problem felt universally by mothers, but I feel it keenly. I have a good friend who has six children. Every so often, we call each other and cry out, "I'm drowning!" It's easy to get buried by the household tasks alone. I've been mopping my floors once a week for the last month, but if you walked in at any given moment, you'd probably think they hadn't been mopped in months. The piles of laundry that multiply on their own. The kitchen -- sometime I'd like to do a photo essay on how messy that room gets and how quickly. I feel like I could spend all day just cleaning the kitchen and still not have it up to my standards. On top of the cleaning, there's the hundreds of little things that have to be done to maintain the household. The lightbulbs to be switched, the repairman to be called, the bill that needs to be clarified. Then there's the important nurturing tasks of raising children. Reading to them, helping with homework, helping them to be responsible with chores, plus mundane things like making sure their fingernails are clipped and that there are enough socks in the house without holes in them. Realizing that almost every pair of pants one son owns has holes in the knees but that as it's January, it's neither warm enough for him to go to school in shorts nor the right time of year for school uniform pants to be on sale. The little frustrating things can add up to big feelings of failure if we allow them to. My friend Michelle, a mother of nine, wrote a great post on her blog about this very issue, entitled, "Good Enough," about how important it is to come to terms with not having the perfect, clean house you dream about.
Beyond the household, homemaking tasks are the many pursuits that have to be put aside for the time being. It's so easy for women, and it's almost become a cliche, to compare our weaknesses to one another's strengths. Even if you're good at something, there's always someone who is better. I have a long list of hobbies I really want to be good at, if only I had the time to pursue them, along with a list of friends who are much, much better at those things than me. There's blogging (Kacy), photography (Chalice, Toni), writing (Katie), exercise (Kelli), Photoshop (pretty much everyone who posts on the digiscrapping galleries I don't have time to frequent anymore), scrapbooking (Angie), and even birthing babies (Rachel). Then there's the intangible qualities I want to develop. My friend Rachel has a serenity, patience, and dedication to her children that I admire and seek to emulate. I admire Kelly for the way she makes everyone feel important and special. Meradith is really good at enjoying her marriage. Allison deals with tough challenges with grace and humor.
While it's good to admire and appreciate other's gifts and talents, it is wrong to discount our own and become discouraged. Part of my struggle with life is being content with my place at this point in time. Knowing intellectually and feeling deeply that the work I'm doing with my family is important helps me to be patient with myself and all the things I don't have time for right now. The closer I come to my Heavenly Father, the more I feel my own worth and the blessing of where I am and what I'm doing with my life. I know it sounds trite, but "bloom where you are planted," is a true principle -- that little spot of earth is the place you've been given. Thrive in it. If you can learn from other people things that help you, do so, but don't compare and get down on yourself. Be your own kind of person and be thankful for your own gifts.
So for me, my hardest challenge is constantly wanting to do and be more, but having to be content with less. Finding peace with "good enough," putting my priorities in proper order, and learning to be grateful for what I've been given while still striving towards perfection. And above all, reminding myself constantly that the unseen, simple work of nurturing that takes up the majority of my efforts is worth all that I can give it.
Anyone have any thoughts or ideas to add? What's the biggest challenge you face, whatever the size of your family?
Finally, an easy question!
from Jaradoron:
and this:
The inside looks like this:
and this:
Right now, it only seats 11 passengers, since we took out the back seat to make more cargo space.
What I drive most often, though, is my 8-passenger Toyota Sienna.
from Jaradoron:
what kind of car do you have?
Our largest family vehicle is a 15-passenger Chevy Express. It looks like this:
and this:
The inside looks like this:
and this:
Right now, it only seats 11 passengers, since we took out the back seat to make more cargo space.What I drive most often, though, is my 8-passenger Toyota Sienna.
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