Tidy Inspiration

I had many concerns and questions as we considered educating our boys at home. One very valid and common concern (at least from what I have seen expressed by other moms in the blogosphere) is balancing the responsibilities of teacher and homemaker. A major aspect of the Montessori method is order. All children (and adults) function better in a orderly and attractive environment. I have learned from painful experience that my children, and my husband :), are particularly sensitive to any chaos in our home. I love living in a tidy home and I love design. I admit I wish my home looked like the cover of a cottage living magazine. But my strengths lie in my creativity, a trait that is often at odds with my desire for cleanliness.

I felt like it was a direct answer to prayer when I was introduced to the Fly Lady at a church activity several weeks ago. (Click here to learn more about the Fly Lady.) Though I still haven't made it past her first handful of steps, I already feel like this has been a huge blessing in our lives as we prepare for the rapidly approaching new school year.  I'm just taking it one step at a time, striving to remain diligent and to develop the lifelong habits my mother has worked so hard to try to instill in me. :)

As I have been working to improve my own habits, I have also been looking for ways to inspire my still tiny boys to become good stewards of our home and belongings.  We created a tradition a while back of a 10 or 20 minute cleanup each evening; responsibility for heading up the cleanup rotating between all family members. We set the timer and often break it down into just 1 or 2 minutes per room.  It's surprising what you can get done in just a short amount of time and we have a great time because we treat it as a game.  The key is you must ALWAYS respect the timer.  As adults it's easy to get into a flow and want to just keep going and finish off a room.  There is no quicker way to turn this from a game to manipulation. You can't fool children.  It's only fun if everyone sticks to the rules of the game.

As effective as this game is, sometimes we're all just a little too tired or irritable at the end of the day to really get into it.  So I truly felt I was inspired a few weeks ago with a new idea.  One of the small joys I remember from my childhood was getting blanket rides.  My dad would have us hop on a blanket and he would drag us through the house and off to bed.  I remembered these rides the other night as I was grasping for some form of distraction to stop the before bed squabbling.  I offered my boys a ride but then noticed that they would need to pick up a few of their things from the floor if they wanted a nice long one. Since then all I have to do is let my boys know that in 5 minutes I will be giving blanket rides.  The clutter between our bedroom and theirs seems to disappear.  They have worked out for themselves that the tidier the rooms are upstairs the longer their rides will be.  I love that they are making their own connections between the way they manage their stewardships and their own joy.  So thanks for all the blankets rides Dad!