Wow I get up in the morning ready for a wonderful day and the first thing I hear is " I'm only 8 I shouldn't have to help with laundry or do the dishes, I'm to young I shouldn't have to do anything!". Seriously?I was doing laundry and dishes at 7 and if they didn't get done right I rewashed the entire cabinet.
So here is what i did... I sat down my 8 yr old daughter (Carley) and gave her a time out like a 5 yr old. I told her that if she thought she wasn't old enough to do the things she does then why did she bounce like a puppy after bacon and ask to be a 'big kid"? She looked at me like I was crazy and shrugged her shoulders. Yes I may be crazy but I think that if a person no matter what size, is capable of doing things then they should do them. No matter how small we should face our fears and our obstacles with an open mind. I don't make the kids do all the house work but they can help! They help dirty the house and clothes they can take clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer and bring the clothes to me to be folded. They can do dishes and put them away, they can clean their own rooms. These are simple little things that make them realize how much mom actually does in a day. because when they are in school I do it all!
Now Carley has put her clothes away, dried the dishes and vacuumed the floor today with no problems what so ever. So why is she to young? why should I be so easy on her when everyone else in the house does their share? Because she is the baby and she thinks she should get away with murder and we should praise her for it! So not happening!! I was the baby too and I didn't get special privileges. I got what everyone else did. Two working parents stuck at home with a crazy grouchy grandma who always made us go to our rooms. We had to have imaginations and we had to learn to deal with the crap that the "old people" put on us. Now I get to be that "old person" and I realize that most of the stuff that my parents did was good for me.
Now it's my turn and I am trying to do for my children what my parents missed in us. We were to be seen and not heard or not seen at all. I love my kids and I want them to have an imagination so I let them do as much as possible but I do not let them slide on doing their chores and I do not buy them everything they want just because they throw a fit. I don't give in and the more they cry the longer they get grounded for. It drives me crazy when people give in because they don't want to deal with their kids! Why do you have kids if you don't want to deal with them? Use a condom, birth control, or just don't have sex! Don't do it just because everyone else is doing it. Think about someone other than yourself and realize that they didn't ask to be here and the way you raise them determines the person they will be when they grow up to be your age!
Okay I'm done ranting for now. Crazy as I am I do have chores of my own to do ;0) Have a wonderful day!
Kudos for you! Kids today have it so much easier than we did (and not that old, don't understand how everything got so F'd up so quickly). When I was 8 I was doing loads of chores around the house. I never would have even questioned not doing them
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that you're figuring out what you want for your kids versus what you were raised with. I plan on doing the same...
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