Kimberly Eddy

This book mostly has things you should know intuitively, but it serves as a nice reminder, like a friend gently bringing something you let slip to your attention.

The primary focus is the important lesson that you teach children to do chores not to lighten your load, but rather to prepare them for their lives as adults. When you're in the trenches of parenting, it's sometimes easy to let the big picture slip, and this serves as an excellent reminder. It also points out, quite correctly, that different children have different talents and that you have to understand your child's natural abilities, but not let them off the hook for things they'll need to know later. The specifics breakdown to the right way to encourage toddlers while they're still in their helpful phase and how to bring around older kids who may have been allowed to bypass chores until now. It gives specific lists of the chores that it's reasonable to expect each age group of children to do, and it gives some great examples of natural consequences for not getting things done.

I really do recommend this book. It's the perfect length for busy parents, it has concrete ideas, and it gives parents solid motivation to keep at teaching even when it's difficult.… (meer)

I purchased this on my Kindle for $1.99 and it is still currently at that price. Kimberly Eddy is also known as Joyful Momma and her blog is titled Adventures in Mothering. She is a homeschooling mom with a large family and like all moms, she can't do it all. Eddy has many wonderful tips on how to start with your toddlers and work your way up to teenagers and teaching them how to help out around the house. I no longer have toddlers and have been requiring chores for many years, but this book was still quite helpful to me in my approach to the chores with my 7, 11 and 12 year olds.

I had several "lightbulb" moments while reading this book. Here are a few that might be helpful to you as well:

"Chores are not about lightening your load as a mother. Chores are about training our children." It isn't that I was actually thinking of it that way, but did give me a different perspective in my approach with their chores. What chores are life-skills that they will need to know later on in life?

"Hey, you want some help with that? Let me show you a trick that helps me...." Rather than taking offense when I try to assist them with a task, this approach will make things more laid back.

"...having our work noticed makes us feel more encourages the next time we do it..." I know when I have spent all day cleaning or making a delicious meal, I expect it to be noticed and praised and I need to be better about praising the kids after a job well-done.

All in all, this book was just an excellent reminder for how we approach chores in our home and our attitudes about it. If we make them fun, do them together, and remind ourselves we are growing our children into capable adults, then doing a few chores won't be so bad.… (meer)