Family Balance: Sharing the Work

As a family with nine children, we’ve had to learn the division of labor in a very real way.
If we’re not coordinated, communicating, and on the same page, our lives quickly turn into chaos.
One of the things that we’ve learned to do is to balance work and family by getting our whole family to share responsibilities for the workload…. this includes…
laundry
dishes
automobiles
trash

General cleaning and more…

It all starts with communication….  We’ve had several family meetings over the years to help us figure out and identify shortcomings and weakness and to bring resources and labor to solve problems.
There are a couple things that we found to work well…

• the family meeting… communication and creativity are key
• having a family chore chart posted in a common area… this way there is no negotiation.  The chart knows all…
• we include standards, with consequences if the person doesn’t do his or her share of their chores
• we teach chores at a very young age, so that even the youngest of our family knows what is expected and can contribute on some level to the betterment of our family
• whenever possible, we try to make chores fun or less burdensome.  We add music, talking, laughing and general fellowship wherever possible…
• lastly, we as parents offer frequent praise and appreciation to each person contributing to the welfare of our family.  We are free to encourage and express thanks.

Beware of mom or dad inheriting the undone chores.  The occasional rescue operation is okay but when one of us ends up having to cover on an ongoing basis, beware of bitterness, anger, and resentment.

The heart of a servant is the key to all the above…
We believe that is caught, not taught.  It is truly a difficult character trait to train into children.
But it can and must be done.  So, we continue to model a servant’s heart and to be doers.  When it comes to family chores, it is not an overnight process and should be looked at as an ongoing training project, approached incrementally, sequentially and methodically.