Letting go of housework

One thing that I dearly love is completing tasks and having a neat and tidy house. This is not necessarily conducive to training small children. I find myself becoming distracted when I am multitasking and it seems that behaviors escalate as does my frustration level.

Phil has encouraged me to let go of some of the housework just spend more time playing and enjoying the children. I have been trying to find the balance in this. When I let the dishes go for the day, I had a horrible experience of trying to cook with no counter space and no clean utensils with 3 children and stools and food burning. However, doing breakfast and lunch dishes when the children go down for naps does work, provided all the dinner dishes from the night previous are done. Doing the laundry as soon as it comes out of the dryer doesn't work. Having the children sort the laundry into baskets and then having a family folding session in the evening does work. Trying to clean throughout the day and mark items off a list doesn't work. Having a big clutter clean, mess clean, toy clean before lunch and before bed where I give and supervise tasks or do myself while Phil plays with the children does.

Now, in this, of course, the children are learning to work together, clean up after themselves, and participate in household chores because I am supervising and directing instead of getting bogged down with my own agenda.

How is it going? Well, it isn't easy just leaving things until I have an opportunity to get to them but the overall peace in the household is much improved. I find I have much less behavior problems when I am able to see and deal with small issues before they become bigger ones. The children enjoy me playing with them, reading more, and just having me near them. I can give a lot more praise because I am closely watching. I do find myself getting a little antsy and yes, sometimes even a little bored, when I am not doing a specific task. Training your children is certainly not something you write on a list and cross off at the end of the day!!! I keep reminding myself that the training and tying of heart strings WILL pay off and I will reap the fruits of my labor, my children are VISIBLY more content and happy when my focus is on them, and I don't get easily frustrated when I just focus on them. And at the end of my lifetime, I won't regret spending this time with my children. Housework is not eternal, those relationships are.

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