I thought this was great. I just went to a birthday party a few weekends ago and while I was there I was telling all the other moms how my kids clean the house and put their own laundry away. They also vacuum the kitchen floor after meals, dust and clean the sink in the bathroom after teeth
brushing. This sounds like no big deal but some of you may not know that my kids are only 5 and 2 yrs old and BOYS! Afterward I couldn’t believe the reaction from some of the moms. They made it sound like their kid couldn’t do it. I have seen my 2 yr old turn on the computer and pick the right login get to his game and play all by himself, the least he can do is vacuum the floor for me! They don’t always enjoy it but this is a great article on why I do it. From: FlyLadyMentors@yahoogroups.com [mailto:FlyLadyMentors@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of FLYLADY
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 8:12 PM
To: FlyLadyMentors@yahoogroups.com
Subject: FLYLADY: Butterflies Need Wings to FLY!
Dear Friends,
Every time I do a personal appearance I always end the talk with my
favorite testimonial.
Dear FlyLady,
After 6 months of flying, fluttering and doing routines, I also got a
feather duster this past week!! I expected to like it, but I didn't
expect it to feel like it was made especially for me.
My 5 yr old DS talked about it every day until it came, the magic wand
that shoots feathers. When it finally came we were ecstatic. I said,
"There is only one rule with the magic dusters: they are for blessing
the house, and everything we say has to be a kind, blessing sort of
thing." and we were off, he with the little duster and me with the
big one. We blessed not only our family and friends and home, we
blessed the lady bugs that live here and the spiders and the dead
spiders!!!
My DS turned to me and said, "I bet you didn't know that I was such a
good house blesser!"
"NO I didn't" I replied.
"THAT is because I'm your little FlyBoy!" He said, "You know what is
good about the FlyLady dusters? They pick up the dirt, not just push
them into piles like other dusters" (do you visit these children in
their sleep?? We never dusted before!) Then he reminded me to shake
it out, and ran onto the deck with his arms up to the sky and yelled
at the top of his lungs, "BLESS THE WORLD"
blessings in CT
Whenever I get to this last part I start crying great big purple
puddles. If we can teach a new generation of babies that house work is
not a chore but a way to bless our homes and families; then I have
done what God put me there to do.
Just today I had a conference call with Paddi, Jessica, Kelly and
Laura. We discussed how we had influenced our children. There is still
hope for Jessica and her precious Maddy. Paddi and Laura are born
organized while Kelly and I are total SHEs. To our surprise all of us
had not taught our children well.
I admitted that my son started doing his own laundry when he was nine
years old because I didn't have routines to keep his clothes washed.
He is born organized and I was making it hard on him getting dressed
in the morning. Kelly told a story about sitting in the floor crying
because she had said a very SHE statement, "If you don't get your room
clean I am going to bag up all your toys and give them away!" She
walked into her dear daughter's room to find her kissing all her toys
goodbye. Paddi told a story of her twenty year old daughter having a
new job as a restaurant hostess. Part of her job was to sweep the
entrance of the restaurant. She asked how to do it. The other
employees made fun of her. She had no idea how to sweep or even hold a
broom and went home in tears. She asked her mother how could she have
done this to her. Paddi didn't know she was doing anything wrong. She
would just clean as part of her natural routines. Laura is born
organized too and she admitted that she has felt that as a stay at
home mom that it was her job to keep the house in order. That included
keeping her daughters' rooms clean even if they were messy. This meant
she did the detailed cleaning in their rooms and not necessary the
picking up and putting away.
The conclusion we came up with was that both of us; born organized
and SHEs do not know how to teach our children to bless our homes.
Some of us have used housework as a punishment. No wonder we have
gotten essays about hating to dust and sobbing while washing the
dishes. While others of us just had it done for them and they have no
clue how to dust, sweep or wash dishes; much less how to keep our own
homes or teach our children these skills.
We all are responsible for teaching our children good habits; we train
them to change their underwear daily, brush their teeth twice a day
and fasten their seat belts. The home keeping skills are just another
habit that gives them the wings to FLY into a new world.
Here is the tough question. How can we teach our children home keeping
skills when we don't know them ourselves? I can tell you it is quite
easy! We have to learn this lesson ourselves one babystep at a time
and in the process learning we can teach our children that home
blessing is not a chore. We all deserve to have a home that hugs us.
Let's put on our wings and give our children wings right along with
us. But here is the key for us! It has to be fun! No one ever made it
fun for us. It is OK to have a good time while you clean; it does not
have to be a punishment. Put on some music and make a game out of it!
You will be surprised at how much fun you can have with a timer and a
change in attitude.
What legacy will you leave your children; one of fun or drudgery and
keeping score. Our homes don't clean themselves unless we utilize our
habits and routines to run on automatic pilot.
Are you ready to put on your Wings and FLY so your children can FLY
too? We are all butterflies coming out of our cocoons. The process of
emerging makes us strong and helps us to survive!
FlyLady
This summer we are going to make it fun for everyone are you with us!
No comments:
Post a Comment