laundry
sweeping and mopping
cleaning up cereal mess :)
Cleaning up the milk party the boys decided to have all over the playroom carpet
I posted this to show that kids are really never too young to learn to clean up. And honestly you may find that yours love to help out. My kids will actually get upset if only one gets a cleaning rag...ha! 
Side story....it ties in I promise*
We were at a friends house several months ago. They have two teenage boys and a preteen daughter. Whenever the parents asked them to help with something, they just did it without thinking twice...no whining, no complaining....no "can't I do it after they leave" kind of attitude. And one thing they were asked to do was pick up dog *lovely* outside that was missed and almost got stepped in. The boy cleaned it up so fast I didn't even know he had! And I remember thinking to myself, "now these kids are a product of Godly parenting! and I hope ours act that respectful when they get older" Not that I didn't think that b4 that day. This fam is awesome people and we are privileged to be able to call them friends, but that day was just a little added nugget.
Over the past 2 yrs God has really shown me that if we as parents don't whine and complain and get grumpy about house work and instead make it more of something we are blessed to be able to do, our children will have the same attitude. They watch our every move.
If ur kiddos have a bad attitude about helping and cleaning...
- maybe ask yourself "how is my attitude when I clean and pick up?" It may sound like common sense, but trust me it will really make you think and keep ur thoughts and attitude in check. I know I have my days that I just want to veg and the thought of hanging the laundry or washing the dishes makes me want to growl inside. BUT, then (and I know this is super cheez but...) I think about how thankful I am to have this home, have 3 healthy beautiful totally amazing children, and not to mention a super wonderful awesome hubs who provides for our family which allows me to be a SAHM! And then....How can I not be a little joyous about some housework...I mean really. So I turn on some Pandora radio and rejoice in some cleaning. I watch my kiddos dance around and rock out with me and we are all better for it.
- pay attention to how you speak to them. I remember one time....I believe it was the milk all over the playroom time, I actually spoke to them like the cleaning was a punishment of sorts. As in I was a bit ticked to be honest. It not only got all over the carpet, but all.over.the.train-set. ugh. As I was in the midst of my growling and grumbling I hear God whisper "you have a right to be aggravated, but you can choose not to be. your children love to help clean. don't blow it by having them associate it with a bad attitude." me...*deep breathe* "k. thanks Jesus." *sigh* "we needed to give the train-set a good bath anyway." I then turned my attitude around b/c I chose to listen and obey my Parent. While they cleaned I first apologized for having a bad attitude, then told them what a good job they were doing by obeying what I asked them to do and thank'd them for cleaning up their mess.
.....and then Trinity wanted to join in the fun so she grabbed her rag.
And our kiddos will soak it all in....the good and the bad
needed to add this too....
If you find urself in the midst of a bad attitude and you hear the Holy Spirit speak to you about it, don't ever hesitate to apologize to ur children. They need to hear and experience mama and daddy listening and obeying their Parent.
No comments:
Post a Comment