Dear Crystal over at Biblical Womanhood posted a challenge today to organize our kitchens. She had a checklist of chores and I was pleasantly surprised to realize almost everything on the list gets done at least once a day around here. You see unlike some mothers I actually believe in teaching my youngins to work. And I don’t just mean taking out the trash once a week. There are a lot of people who live in my house, all named Raine, and believe me they can make a mess, so I figure they ought to know how to clean it up properly. With this many people it is a lot of fun but can also be a lot of work if it isn’t taken seriously. So we train them to manage certain areas. 3 different girls are in charge of the kitchen at different times of day, at each time the floors are swept, the dishes done and put away, counters cleaned and stove and microwave. The fridge cleaned, pantry cleaned and so on. And since we have a hillbilly kitchen (washer and dryer in there) the laundry areas are cleaned too. Laundry does not stay around, it gets done and put away. When an area is done is should look like the maids have come and gone. I also teach my cooks how to plan a meal, a shopping list and make the meal and desert. Where I probably get a little different is in teaching them to be managers. I don’t want them to just be my robots, I want them to think for themsleves, and improve upon my methods. It works! They can cook better than me! Now when I go into the kitchen is everything exactly where I would like it if I were the only one living here? No, and yes sometimes it bugs me, but then I remember they won’t be here forever, and one sad sad day I will have my kitchen all to myself again, but I will know that I have trained incredible girls who will have incredible families. And they will have that “momma” trait of being gifted enough to do 20 things at once, and yet still still stop to answer every question. 🙂 Now that is efficient!
Liberty says
I would really like to teach my children to manage a household well. What a blessing that would be! Was it something that your mother passed on to you, or was it a vision you developed for your own family?