Clean Up

Each day is another day to struggle with our kiddos to help around the house. For now, the boys think cleaning up is fun, somewhat. They will happily help out for about two minutes, then they are usually side-tracked by something shiny. Addysen, although still very young at the age of four, has already come to the conclusion that cleaning is just for mommies. As she put it, "I am not a mommy, so you (meaning me) have to pick up!". After all the arguments and "no's", I somehow manage to get the littlest in our family to pick up a few legos and maybe get lucky enough to have them put dirty laundry in the basket. My boys do enjoy helping with the laundry. Garhett likes to push the full basket of laundry down the stairs , and Brenden has started to enjoy sitting in the dryer. The task of doing laundry used to seem so daunting and monotonous, now, it is a new experience each day! Putting away groceries is another thing they are helpful with. Each boy has to thoroughly examine each item I purchased, and then beg to have one! "Please have grapes!", "please have cheese!" If I were to give them the food they wanted every time they asked, I might as well turn around and head back to the store. Then, they also love to test the durability of the chips as well as tomatoes and bread. When they hand me my loaf of bread that looked like a loaf of bread going in to the bag but now looks like a wadded up ball, I just try to smile and say thanks..not too sarcastically! Our oldest girls are another story entirely. They both understand that arguing will only result in MORE cleaning, so we are pretty good in that area. It's the act of actually cleaning that they kinda lack! They have been getting over on the basement and playroom lately since mom can not go down the stairs very easily. They are in for a big surprise come Monday, the cast is coming off!