Photo courtesy of kpchappi at Photobucket
Several years ago my family went to La Quinta, California for a much needed vacation. In our clan, the kids consider the entire vacation a bust if Disney or Nickelodeon channels are not offered in a hotel! While we were lubing up for the day at the pool, my youngest was channel surfing and landed on a pre-school program called, “Wonder Pets”. We all laughed as we watched the animal trio work together as a team to save a furry friend in crisis.
Fast forward to when I first became a Sandwich-Mom and my “team” was nowhere in sight! (Cricket…cricket…) Family teams do not just “happen”, they have to be created and developed to be effective. In fact, most minor family members (A.K.A. children) go kicking and screaming into team mode.
When you accept the challenge of caring for your parent or balance work life in addition managing a busy home and family, you are going to have to do the work to develop your own family team. Here are some strategies to get you started:
- Schedule a family meeting. Post a note a few days before, set an agenda and fix a special snack. Solicit input from each team member on what would make his or her home a good place to be. Make sure to listen!
- Clarify the benefits. Help your family understand how their participation in the family tasks will benefit them. For example, neater rooms equal more sleepovers or play dates. If everyone pitches in, there will be more time for fun activities not to mention that Mommy will be in a much better mood!
- Develop a ”clean” definition. Try to find an agreeable mid-point. For example, if someone is a pack rat, allow them a messy space of their own and establish the common areas as “clutter-free” zones.
- Set realistic goals for tasks. Carefully describe and demonstrate the job and results. If you tell a kidlet to “clean your room”, you may find that their definition of “clean” is completely different from yours!
- Use creative motivation tactics. When my son was younger, he loved soccer and one day I sat down and had him explain the game to me. I told him I thought it would be a great idea if EVERYONE on the team were a goalie because the opponents would never be able to score a goal. He gently explained why each position was important to the team and BINGO…that allowed me to explain why all members of our family needed to participate in taking care of the home.
Having the entire family work together does not mean you are a slave driver; rather you are building a solid foundation for them to depend on as adults. What team building methods have you found successful in your family??
What’s going to work? Teamwork! Now I’ll have that Wonder Pets song in my head all day!!! You’re right though. Great ideas on how to get everyone working together. If I could just get my 2 year old to play along!
Lots of yummy love,
Alex, aka Ma What’s For Dinner
http://www.mawhats4dinner.com
I agree with you Alex – that song was in our heads for weeks! Hahaha. Come back soon because I am soon going to post teamwork ideas for all ages – even 2 year olds!
Thanks for stopping by!
None yet but I hope to when Kaia gets older. Sounds like you’ve got it together
Hi Khara – I think Kaia has a few more months before she can be a part of your team!
Thanks for visiting!
What a great strategy for creating a family team. I’ll have to print, laminate and save this for when my boys are old enough–hopefully not to far from now. Best wishes that the team strategy continues to go well for you. It sounds like you have thoughtful, responsible kids.
Thanks Maura! My kidlets are much older so I have had time to get them in the habit. I did start early tho, small kiddos are really willing and happy to be involved.
I love the idea of creating a family team. My kids are really good about helping when asked, but we could definitely use work in helping without being asked:) Thanks for the tips. Hugs, Diane
I agree Diane! “Asking” is just another chore on our To-Do lists!
Feel better soon friend!
Oh yes…the Wonder Pets! I love that you have a team strategy in place based on this…so brilliant! I could definitely use these suggestions, so thank you for a wonderful post!
Hi Ameena and thanks so much for stopping by!
My children are way into sports so we do use a team mentality. Our argument is that everyone needs to pitch in to get things done if we are going to be able to drive/spend time at practices and games. They usually understand that and when push comes to shove work well together. Though yard work seems to be their strong suit not housework!
Yeah, my kids aren’t thrilled by housework either but they finally understand that until their chores are done there isn’t time for “fun”. Really, they only have one large chore per day (trash or kitchen duty), trade off dog walking/feeding and maintaining their rooms.
Coming together as a team is not something that happens magically in our house (or any house, right?!) I do end up feeling like a drill sergeant a lot of the time. I really like your tips, especially about creating a family definition of clean and neat.
What works best is if we can all be working on something at the same time. With four of us working for 30 minutes it’s like me working for 1 1/2 hours (the kids are slower!), and then we can all get to something fun. I try to create some kind of reward at the end, like a fun activity (even if it’s just “Now you can go ride your bike/watch TV/go see your friend”)
You are right Heather – having helpers is truly much faster. When my kids were younger, I used my timer a lot! After dinner I would set it for about 10 minutes and all four of us would speed thru the house picking up whatever needed to go back in it’s home. Shoes, glasses, newspapers – it was all put away before bed and saved me a lot of clean up the next morning!