Wednesday's

My weekly chore schedule:

Monday: Laundry and baking

Tuesday: Downstairs general maintenance and floors

Wednesday: Upstairs general maintenance and floors

Thursday: Bathrooms

Friday: Monthly/quarterly jobs (or whatever I didn't finish earlier in the week)

I have a love hate relationship with Wednesdays. Hyrum gets out of school at 12:30, so I specifically set myself a relatively easy job for that day with the idea that we can do something fun on his afternoon off. The problem is, before I can finish my task, the boys have to do their part. I think I'm reasonably laid back when it comes to their rooms. They can play and do just about whatever they want in there, as long as once a week it is cleaned up enough for me to vacuum. Usually, the rooms aren't even that messy and if they'd just buckle down and do it, it wouldn't take them long at all to pick up their toys and make their beds. But they hem and haw and whine and complain. Instead of going on outings or doing a special craft, they spend hours avoiding what would probably only take them 20 minutes to do, and in the process often end up making a bigger mess than the one they started with.

There are always tears and frustration associated with Wednesday afternoons. It would be so much easier if I just picked up real quick and got the job done so we could all go do something fun. But, I want my children to learn responsibility and respect for their possessions. I want them to face a daunting task knowing that they can do hard things. I want them to feel proud of a job well done and to understand that hard work is a big part of a happy life. So, as difficult as Wednesday afternoons can be, cleaning their rooms is one battle I am not going to give up on.

(Today's antics ended up in the loss of everything in Hyrum's room but the bare essentials in bedding. The boys are currently sleeping in the same room since their rooms are usually several degrees colder than the rest of the house and we only have/wish to use one space heater.)