So what do I mean? Well, when my two boys burst through the door after school each day I tell them to "stop, and give me fifteen" minutes of their time for chores. Fifteen minutes is no big deal. You can even put it on a timer. But I do my best to enforce it every school day, the minute they burst through the door. Otherwise, you know what happens... the TV flips on, or they start playing with their iPods, scavenging for food or otherwise just destroying the house. And then the evening gets away on you and it's dinner and bed and nothing has been accomplished by the minors in the household.
In 15 minutes they can complete one or maybe two tasks. Things as simple as these:
- tidying up their bedroom from the morning rush
- organizing the shoes at the front door
- walking and feeding the dogs
- taking out the garbage
- sweeping the floor
- putting away their own laundry
- gathering their equipment for the next hockey game
- writing a quick thank you note to someone
- putting away groceries
- setting the table
During that 15 minutes, I prepare a quick and healthy snack for them. (We all know kids burst through the door hungry each day after school.) Things like crackers and cheese, veggies, or whole grain tortilla chips and salsa usually do the trick.
Then, they can get to doing their after school "chillaxin" and I can work at getting dinner ready without the added burden of doing their chores as well, or tripping over them as they scavenge for food in the kitchen.
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