Ladies, I must admit that I used to HATE housework! Let me explain by giving you just a bit more background about me. I have always been a working woman. I am a registered nurse and worked in the nursing field for 16 years. I went back to school 13 years ago and now I am a high school biology teacher. In addition to being a career woman, I have raised 5 sons. My sons were all very active in school playing two or three sports during each school year from fifth grade through high school as well as being involved in other school activities. I still have one son at home and one in college. (The oldest three are married to lovely young women.) In addition to my children I have a darling husband who has worked odd hours as a police detective for our entire 29 years of marriage. In addition to all of this we have tried very hard to be a family that is active in serving the Lord with our local church family. With all of these commitments I have had very little time for housework! Frankly, for many years I didn't even pretend to do much of it. It just seemed like I was fighting a losing battle! But there is value in keeping an orderly home. It saves time and money in the long run to have a reasonably organized and clean home. You spend less time looking for things and you spend less money replacing things that you've lost. If you have children with allergies or other health issues it may keep them healthier and save you money at the doctor's office to keep your home clean. There are benefits to your children in learning to help because they are part of a family and learning to care for their things. Learning to sort toys is a good brain development activity for young children. And let's face it, many of us enjoy attractive surroundings and clutter and dirt just aren't very pretty! A further benefit of keeping your home neat and clean is that you won't be embarrassed to use it in the service of the Lover of Your Soul. You will be able to practice the hospitality that He asks of us. But even given these obvious benefits it still remains that the practice of keeping your home neat and clean is difficult at best!
I have learned a few things in all these years of taking care of my home.
1. Keep things in perspective. If your children have food to eat, clean clothes to wear, and a reasonably clean environment at home then you have the essentials taken care of and the rest is just gravy. In fact, I would encourage you to read a book to your children or play a game with them before you make sure that your floors shine and your mirrors are spot-free. Some of you are obsessing because you can't stand the stuff tracked on the carpet or the few dishes left in the sink from the kid's afternoon snack. I know you have heard it before but I will tell you again... your babies will not remember that you kept a spotless floor, they will remember playing games and reading stories and cuddling at naptime. Don't let the expedient overrule the truly important!
2. Develop a system. Maybe it's a room a day or a room a week. Maybe it's taking care of one task a day like sweeping, or dusting, or laundry. Find one that works for you and stick with it. I have used a couple of different systems in my married life and have developed several of them into something that fits me and my family. One that I can recommend is The Flylady. She is organized and has a reasonable approach. She starts with "baby steps" and helps you develop habits that will keep your housework under control. There are other systems that I'm sure work equally well. The important thing is to have a system and to work the system. Do a search on the Internet and you'll be amazed at the number of different systems you will find.
3. Decide to take joy in making a neat, clean home for your family. I often didn't like housework because I felt like I was being put upon and used by my family. My attitude was often not the attitude of service towards them. I had to learn this attitude of service but the Lover of My Soul has convicted me of this. Jesus had to remind me many times of how He SERVED! He loved people and He served people. Who are the people that you love most on the planet? Your family, of course! Who would you rather serve than the people you love the most? And if we can't serve those that we love most how can we ever hope to serve those that we don't love or who don't love us?!
4. Enlist your family to help you. This may seem a direct contradiction to the previous point but it's not really. You see, part of loving and serving your family includes teaching your little ones to be good stewards of the things that God has entrusted in their care. Even the very little guys can pick up their toys. When they are a bit older they can put away their folded laundry, help set the table, take out the garbage, and feed the dog and cat. Children in the upper elementary grades can begin to take on more responsibility by helping with the meal preparations as well as helping with sweeping and dusting and doing the laundry. I will admit that as my boys grew and got busier with their school work and activities I wasn't very good at expecting them to help me as they should have. Learn from my mistakes! They were capable of helping with far more housework than I expected them of them and my daughter-in-laws would have thanked me for it!!! :)
5. Give your kids a space that is theirs. This space is especially important for teens. Usually it is their bedroom but it doesn't have to be. It could be a room in the basement where they can hangout with their friends or some other area as long as it is someplace that you can close the door to. If the space is shared with siblings you may need to mediate some measure of cooperation and mutual respect but this is often a good and necessary lesson for today's teens. Hopefully, at this point you have taught them to put their things away and this space will not take on the appearance of a natural disaster site but if it does... close the door! Don't let it become a source of contention between you and your teen. As long as it doesn't stink or attract pests, let them deal with it. My boys eventually got tired of being unable to find things and would do a big clean-up. During the summer I usually encouraged them to take a day or two and really clean their rooms. And by encourage, I mean that I helped (remember... service)! I admit that there were almost always long-lost items that were found and became lessons to the boys regarding the value of being organized and neat. :)
Love and serve your family and the Lover of Your Soul by keeping a neat and clean home. It will amke you and your family happy and increase your opportunities for service in other ways.
Loving and serving the Lover of My Soul and Yours!
Laurie Jo
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