Household Helpers

Morning place mats have been working wonderfully for two years now.  But, with summer fast approaching, I knew it was about time to set up some sort of system to let the boys know what chores I expect them to help with.  At 5 years and 7 1/2 years old, they are able to help out more around the house, especially when they are home all day.  Also, we have been discussing starting to give our boys allowance. 

All of this got me thinking about what would work best in our home.  A great excuse to look at Pinterest for inspiration!  You can see some of my favorite ideas saved on my Parenting board.  There are lists of developmentally appropriate chores for different ages, commentaries on linking allowance to chores (or why you might choose not to), and many creative ways to create chore charts.

The thing is that my husband and I don't want our children to think of their helping around the house as "chores."  More important, we want them to understand that certain helpful behaviors are their responsibility as a member of our household.  This mind set applies to both jobs around the house and to routine responsibilities.  Here are a few examples of responsibilities that I expect my boys to take care of without my asking: put your shoes away when you come inside, flush the toilet, clear your dishes after you eat, throw your dirty laundry down to the basement.  So, we decided to extend the idea of our morning routine and also establish summer afternoon and evening routines where the children are reminded of their routine responsibilities.  Here are the cards:














So many ideas on Pinterest were very cute and definitely practical.  In the end, however, I decided I wanted the boys to be responsible for more than just a half dozen of the same daily chores.  Inspired by how another mother used mailboxes, I came up with our non-chore non-chart Household Helpers kit.  {BTW: The boys helped me decide on the name.}

Morning Place Mats

What parent wants to follow their children around reminding them to take care of basics like getting dressed or to pick up after themselves?  What parent wants to nag about getting everything together before school or getting their chores done?  We're not perfect and yes my children sometimes leave a trail of dirty clothes, leave a room a disaster, or leave their lunch at home.  But, I don't want that to be our norm.  I want to raise boys with awareness and responsibility.

My children work best with routine, so I work with that.  When my oldest was in 1st grade and my youngest started 3-year-old preschool, we started setting out a place mat for each boy at breakfast.  Our oldest has always been an excellent reader, so his place mat has words.  Our youngest has a picture schedule.  The left column labeled "To Do" is their morning routine.  The right column is our version of "Get Your Gear," which is a list of what they need to gather to be ready for school.  If they are not staying on task in the morning, I simply say: "Check your chart.  Are you all ready?"

Morning place mats work for us for a variety of reasons: The boys like it.  If they are off task, I can ask a basic question and I do not have to remind them about specific responsibilities all morning.  They like being responsible and independent.  I, of course, like this too.  Also, they are motivated to get ready so they can fit in some free time (like playing or reading) before school.  Sometimes, when they don't need reminders and have been very responsible, we even let them have a little screen time before school.  It's so nice not to have rushed, stressful mornings!


This system has worked wonderfully unchanged over the last 2 years.  As the children got older, they've helped with more "chores" throughout the day.  In the morning and after school, the boys have gotten used to looking for dishes or silverware to put away, laundry to fold and put away, or another way to help out around the house.  The great thing is that jobs have gotten done with very few reminders!

So Simple Dessert: Chocolate Soufflé

My favorite dessert that is oh so easy... Really!

Mission Project Completion

So, we've already established that I don't really set resolutions at the start of each new year.  I do, however, find myself thinking of projects.  Today's project has been tidying up my Pinterest boards... Okay that may take more than one day!  I don't know about you, but I do tend to start one task and then get distracted by other only slightly related tasks.  I still have not found that school lunches template that I wanted to print out... and I didn't like any of the other meal planning sheets I found... but I did find a great daily and weekly task chart to personalize.

So, today I'm going to share a few resources that I hope will help me stay focused and get things done.

New Year: Healthy Choices in 2014

Fact: I'm not one to make New Year resolutions.  But... I have been missing Zumba, and I do want to find ways to be more active (especially now that it's sooo cold outside).  And... I do want to eat healthier foods, and I need to have more energy.

Thing is, I've struggled to figure out what is actually "healthier" to eat.  As is usually the case for me, a lot of different influences have come together to change my life for the better.  The end result is that I'm starting to eat and feel better, and I have so much more energy! 

The key concept I keep coming back to again and again is BALANCE.

Baking Fall Treats: Bushels of Apples

What's the best way to celebrate the start of Fall?  Well, until this year I may have answered differently, but now I must say it's with all things apples!

Why so much excitement about apples?  Well, last year Iowa didn't have many, but this year my parents' neighbor's trees were very bountiful!  And this weekend starts all the apple fun, because my mom was awesome enough to bring us up a bunch of yummy Iowa apples.

Living Room: Pops of Color (version 1)

Finally, finishing up some rooms!  While my laundry is still all over the bedroom floor (well, nothing new there), I did get the boys' rooms unpacked fairly quickly.  After two weeks, we are finally adding the finishing touches to the living room and the boys' bedrooms. It feels great to no longer have bare walls and to feel a sense of accomplishment having totally decorated a few rooms. 

I've always loved wood floors.  There's something comforting knowing there's wood throughout the main level, but I have to say having carpet in the living room has really grown on me.  The boys have done a great job of leaving their shoes and food in the kitchen and keeping the beige carpet clean.  It was interesting decorating an all vanilla room though without having wood on the floor and a colorful area rug to pull all the colors together.  So, I stepped out of my comfort zone and decorated with bright pops of color and played with asymmetrical design.  I also stepped away from relying on dark brown wood tones to ground everything and added touches of black throughout the room.