The chores or jobs that are required to keep our household running smoothly seem to be, for the most part….evenly divided in our home. Now, I say evenly divided with some hesitation because I don’t know if things are ever evenly divided (or if they even need to be). And it hasn’t always been this way. When my husband was working full-time at the same time as going to school full-time, I definitely felt like I was running a one woman show. There have also been times that he has had to pick up the slack and do my work along with his own work.
Being aware of our strengths as well as our interests is really what has helped us figure out what ultimately works for our family. I have always liked cleaning, ever since I was little. My room was always clean (ok… most of the time). The bathroom that I was in charge of was also kept very neat and clean. When it was my turn to do dishes I would make the kitchen shine. Now my husband, on the other hand, loves to work outside. If it were up to him we would be living in Idaho on a large farm and he would love it. So he does yard work very well. He loves gardening, trimming, sawing, mowing, etc, etc. We have a big yard and do a big garden every year which keeps us (mostly him) busy. I don’t do all of the housework by myself and my husband doesn’t do all of the yard work, but for the most part this has been working for us.
We have 4 children who we have raised to work hard and have always given them jobs. It’s neccessary that children be given responsibilities, like chores, so they can learn important lessons of life. When they’re 3 or 4 years old they help unload the silverware as well as other small jobs that are age appropriate. As they get older, they learn to do new jobs along the way. And because this was started at a young age they know it’s an important part of life and how our family runs. We all contribute and work hard, so that we can really enjoy ourselves and the reward that comes with hard work.
It doesn’t always go smoothly and my kids don’t always happily do their jobs, but for now this is what works for our family. There are improvements that can be made and I’m sure changes will occur from time to time. One thing that I have almost come to expect is that once we think we’ve got something figured out, it changes. Maybe we’re shown a different way that would work better. What works for one family is not going to work for another, but hey, we found what works for us!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Yep something different works for every family I like your set up though!
Cindy, you are right – Change is inevitable & flexibility is helpful. As our kids were all in the house, we rotated all the chores so that everyone took turns in every job – we didn’t want to divide the duties into “girls chores & boys chores” so that the kids wouldn’t grow up thinking certain chores were gender specific. It was interesting to watch the dynamics in our household – some kids truly “hated” certain chores so they would trade with a sibling or pay a sibling to do their chores for them. When the last few were left at home – they campaigned for their favorite jobs & we let them choose (to some extent) what was to be “their job.” Our youngest son ended up with the trash, recycling, & lawn because his two older sisters didn’t like getting dirty.
Oh well, we tried…