Charting the chores and more

Chores and play are done as a family (public domain photo)

While the grand-kids are on vacation, I have plenty of time to do things like making chore charts, organizing the chaos and such. By the time they get back, I will hopefully have created a more peaceful, stable environment we can all live with. Either that or there will be a ton of whining and complaining. Still, I'm one of those people who feels stability and security depend on knowing what's expected of you and doing your share.

I'm so old fashioned, right?

On the other hand, I've seen the opposite two sides of the coin. That's why I refuse to be on either. On one side are those parents that let their kids tell them how to run the house. On the other side are those that bad-mouth, guilt and pound their kids into behaving. Some parents even alternate between the two, confusing the heck out of their kids. None of this is pretty. None of this teaches kids anything useful. I'll take peacefully written, peacefully spoken and peacefully enforced rules over all that silliness any day of the week.

How Grandma does it.

I make sure the kids and grown-ups all know and understand the rules.

When the rules are broken, I don't make the kids feel guilty. I just make them fix their mistakes.

We all are expected to chip in on the work.

Anyone who doesn't, has a privilege taken away because they have not earned it.

After the work is done, we have a lot of fun, laughing and playing together as a family.

All “discipline” is done in a calm, non-violent, matter-of-fact way with no name calling or blame placing.

Nobody in this house is allowed to make another person feel inferior, even yours truly.

Where learning is concerned, parental example is king and life experience is queen.

The end.