Fall is a wonderful time of the year! The air is crisp, homeschooling is begun again, and anything seems doable and possible! That is, until the second day of school when you can’t find your lesson book, yesterday’s dishes are still mocking you on the counter and you wonder where all that laundry came from.
Yikes! Seems like the house ought to have sense enough to stay clean while you’re doing studies with your children. But my friends, never fear! This is a great opportunity to teach your children yet another aspect of life – and yes, it can go in your lesson books. Everyone needs to learn home economics and what better place to start than… home?
So here’s some suggestions for teaching home economics to each age group and, incidentally, gaining control of the clutter while you’re at it. And remember, your children will be as cheerful and enthusiastic about it as you are. So make it fun and enjoyable! Sometimes my mom would put a 10 minute timer on and we’d make a game out of trying to get these things done before the timer went off. Often we would put on cheerful music while we were working. Perhaps you can save some special treat, like bubble gum or peppermints for this time period. Use whatever incentive works for your family.
Ages 2-3: These children are old enough to put their toys away with supervision. In our family, Mom always had some big plastic tubs for toys that would easily slide out of sight under a dresser or bed. All we had to do was go through the house, grab all the toys, and put them into the tubs.
Ages 4-5: This age group should start learning to carry their dirty dishes to the kitchen, make their own beds and tidy their bedrooms. Mom would inspect our work when we were done – and make us do it over it if it was badly done - so we had incentive to do it right.
Ages 7-10: These kiddos are old enough to tidy bathrooms, vacuum the floor, help unload the dishwasher and fold laundry. They can learn to do more in depth house and kitchen cleanup, not to mention some basic yard work. Although they still need supervision and inspections, they can be more autonomous.
Ages 11-15: Now we’re talking about in depth scrubbing, mopping, dusting, running some laundry, vehicle cleanup, heavy lawn work and meal prep. This age group has energy and ability and can actually run the whole house with some supervision, especially if they’ve had proper training when they were younger. Raquelle and I could, and did, run the house on occasion when we were this age. Mom and Dad always expressed their deep appreciation for this, so it was a privilege, not drudgery.
Ages 16 and up: Now your children should have enough training to do whatever needs to be done. Consider letting them help with grocery shopping, fixer-upper jobs around the house and other special projects. They should do this even if they are employed outside the home. Everyone benefits from a clean and orderly home so everyone should still be part of the team that keeps it that way.
You may be thinking, “I don’t want my kids to have to work their way through childhood! I want their childhood to be fun!” Folks, do you think your children consider it fun to see Mom and Dad grumpy and swamped with a dirty house and overgrown yard? Do they enjoy constantly losing important items in the mess? Do they look forward to the embarrassment of their friends having to pick their way through a pigsty to visit them?
Children should have time to play and be children, but that doesn’t mean they should never learn responsibility. Someday they will have their own houses and they will thank you for teaching them how to clean and maintain their homes properly. Furthermore, learning to do work around the house is a great opportunity to teach teamwork, cheerfulness, initiative, thoroughness and other godly character traits.
So, this year as you make your lesson plans, don’t forget to include home economics. With everyone working together, it can take about an hour in the morning, 20 minutes before supper and maybe a couple hours on Saturday for deep cleaning. It’s doable! Go for it!
