I made a chore chart, or as we ammended it to say after my 7 yr old -K corrected me, a “Job Wheel”.  Poor -R he has only had 2 1/2 short years of the free ride, but it was time, time for them all to hop off this gravy train.  We are three weeks in and I am happy to say the boys really are buying into it!

The way it works is that each child is assigned a job for a week, after the week we turn the wheel and they get the next job.  It’s very similar to what my 2 oldest boys have done in their classrooms at school.  The hardest part was thinking of 4 jobs that: a. would lessen my load, b. they would take ownership of, c. they could all pretty much do to some degree. 

Here’s what I came up with:

1. Sweeping kitchen and dining room daily.
Vaccuming rugs when they are dirty.

2. Bringing firewood to stack on the porch when needed.
Bring firewood into house daily.  This job will have to change in the warmer weather of course

3. Team Captain:  in charge of cleaning up livingroom and playroom before bed (or when needed).
The Team Captain is required to take initiative and get the other brothers to clean with him.

4. Setting dinner table and cleaning up dishes after dinner.

I don’t think I would have actually gotten organized enough to do this if it weren’t for the sheer number of kids.  I need help and they need to pitch in to keep our family running.  It feels so much better though to be folding clothes when someone is sweeping the floor or cleaning up in some other way around me!

I’ve just finished reading “A Simple Path” by Mother Teresa this week.  It is a lot to mull over. 

 The text below was in the book, it is from a sign on the wall of Shishu  Bhavan, the children’s home in Calcutta run by the Missionaries of Charity that was founded by Mother Teresa.  I thought it said a lot about how the Sisters go about their lives and how they find strength to do the work they do.  The poem was written by Kent M. Keith

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

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* I’m kind of fascinated by this very different way of looking at life.