Unloading your workload – The art of delegation.
I don’t know if it happens in your house, but each time I ask my kids to clean up their room, desk, or put away their toys, I hear whinging, pure “awww….do we have to?” or “but that’s so boring!”. And then, I’ll hit them back with “imagine how I feel cleaning up YOUR things?” But, amazingly, they seem to do other chores with glee! Chores like doing the dishes, unloading the dishwasher, putting their folded/ironed clothes into their wardrobe, chores that I also abhor, ok, let’s face it, I just don’t enjoy doing any chores for that matter, especially when it doesn’t get appreciated. Not to say I want the family to say thank you, although that would be nice, BUT, to at least NOT mess it up within seconds of having them cleaned or put away. To not just roll up their clothes and dump it into their wardrobe after you have ironed and put them away nicely.
So, with this in mind, I thought, why not take advantage of the fact that they LOVE doing the chores I don’t really enjoy? Now, I manage to convince them to put their own clothes away, whenever I finish folding or ironing them. Especially since I recently re-organised their wardrobe. My 4 year old now helps me with unloading the dishwasher by passing me the dishes and cutlery and at times putting them away in the appropriate drawers! Not only do I get my job done quicker, but the kids also feel a sense of importance being given jobs that they think are those that only adults can do. It also teaches a sense of responsibility, these are things we just HAVE to do anyway, so why not learn it earlier. Will it last? I don’t think so, but for now, I’ll take advantage of that thanks! Next on my list of things to delegate: dusting and the laundry. Well, at least sorting the laundry first.
