When I was growing up, living with my Grandmother, we got up every Saturday morning and cleaned the house. You did your chores before you got to do anything else. No exceptions. If you just did it and didn’t gripe too much, the cleaning took maybe an hour (it wasn’t a big house, and there were a couple of us doing the work). For me, it was a big lesson in “just suck it up and do it and it will be done quickly.” It took me a while to figure it out though. When I first started living with Grandma, I tried a lot of bargaining to get out of the cleaning. I never won that debate.

My little guy turned 3 in June and I think it’s time to start the Saturday morning cleanup. He picks up his toys, takes his dishes to the sink after meals, and helps me water the plants. He’s pretty good about doing those things without too much griping. That’s all fine and good. My challenges come in two forms: (1) I’m impatient when it comes to cleaning, and (2) I’m lazy.

Impatience Anyone?

I don’t know if it’s a hold-over from my childhood, but I just want the cleaning done and to get on with the rest of my day. That wouldn’t be a big deal except that I often take over the tasks I’ve asked my son to do so that they’ll get done quickly. I don’t know how much Nicholas has caught onto that yet (probably completely, he’s smart), but I’ve got to put a stop to it. Do you find yourself doing that? When a task will go a lot faster and be done better if you do it, you just take over for your child? I know this tendancy isn’t good for either of us, but I seem to have fallen into that pattern.

Lazy!

I’m lazy. Or overly tired. I can’t decide which is more accurate. When we wake up on Saturday mornings, I just want to be lazy and snuggle in bed with my Fella and my boy. Who wants to get up and clean and organize when there are two warm bodies waiting for hugs and a cozy bed to snuggle in? The problem is, that if I don’t do the cleaning and get it done pretty early in the morning, I tend not to do it. And then I spend the next week griping about how I should have cleaned Saturday morning :). Stupid, I know. The more important issue when I don’t clean is that Nicholas has allergy-induced asthma, and I feel like he does better if the house is fairly dust-free. That means dusting and vaccuming. Yuck.

How do you do it?

What is your family’s routine for cleaning and other chores? How much do you put your kids to work? Are you often tempted to do it yourself? How do you stop yourself from taking over?

I’m interested to see how you all manage the work in your families.

Sherry Carr Deer is a Mommy to Nicholas who just turned 3, fiance to William, the widow of Mark, and a PR professional at a non-profit hospital. You can read more of her posts here.