Idle Hands

This past weekend, I was marveling at how clean the house was, well, by our normal standards anyway, which is no where near "clean". And let me share why, lest you mistakenly believe that I have turned a corner in my housekeeping abilities (I haven't).

We were rained in you see. For three straight days. This after having weeks and weeks of beautiful weather (don't laugh too hard, all you northerners!). Being cooped up with three boys who are used to the outdoors meant lots of jumping off of furniture, yelling, sword fights, and well, lets just say I was about to pull my hair out at the sight of the melee. I had to get control. And fast!

I got out the mop. And the scrub brushes. And the duster. I set the oldest three to work. I sat in the middle and demonstrated/directed the action. Whenever each boy was finished, he was allowed to attempt play again, until one of the aforementioned *feats *that *must *be *stopped* began to occur again. And then I set him to work once more.

At first I struggled. Should I really be working them so hard? Should I really trust them to wash breakable dishes (I did), run the vacuum (I did), and dust around my collectibles (well, sort of - not the really special ones!). And you know what? They relished in the responsibility. They put a lot of that bottled up energy to good use. And I even think that they might have had a little bit of fun.

This motivates me to give them more responsibility around the house. I am so afraid at times of letting them do "real" chores with "real" tools because something will get broken or I tell myself that "they are not old enough yet". Yet when I set my expectations just a little bit higher than usual, it is amazing and inspiring to see them reach for that extra star. I realize that they are capable. I realize how much that they have grown. And I realize that this is my job, to set that bar just a little bit higher from time to time. After all, that is how they will grow.