Guilt
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Guilt
| Tue, 07-31-2007 - 10:20am |
Why does the media portray working moms, always, as having guilt?
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/family/07/30/hm.mommy.guilt/index.html
| Tue, 07-31-2007 - 10:20am |
Why does the media portray working moms, always, as having guilt?
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/family/07/30/hm.mommy.guilt/index.html
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I love it when Cal will ask "why do I have to pick this up" about some mess in his room. I'll say "Did I make the mess? Didn't think so. Why should I pick it up?" Savannah doesn't ask that crap anymore. Cal's learning ... a bit slower, but he's learning.
Or he'll ask me to "help him" clean up his room (which means he wants me to do it for him). I'll say "Okay, but are you going to come help me fold all the towels? And write the checks for the bills? and weed the garden? After all, if I help you with yoru stuff, you should help me with mine ..." It *usually* shuts him up.
my middle dd will be 9 next month she can pour out of the gallon milk container. does she sometimes spill a little, occassionally, but she knows how to get a towel and wipe up the mess. she makes her own sandwiches, except for steak cuts her own food, etc....
my kids are pretty self-sufficient in alot of ways and we all like it because it gives us plenty of time and energy to do the things we want to do.
you know, i havent washed my oldest dd clothes since she was like 12-13. my 9 year old can mow the lawn. it really is amazing what they can do if given the chance.
I actually didn't mind "helping" when they were smaller if it just meant keeping them company and on track. My "helping" was usually something like changing the sheets or dusting the top shelves in their rooms on Saturday morning while they were picking up and dusting what they could reach. And I could be kind of friendly and say things like, "Wow! Look at all these socks under your bed! How about you get under and get those and I will put away the stuff in your top drawer." Stuff like that.
I think my kids were pretty competent with the necessary cleaning by the time they were seven or eight. DS#1 is a born slob and always will be slobby, and I give him some slack in his own bedroom. But even he needs to keep the shared spaces liveable.
We're lucky enough to have two fridges, one is in the mudroom and is dubbed the "snack fridge," and it is where I put stuff the kids are allowed to have unrestricted access to. It usually contains bottled water, lemonade, tea, fruit, yogurt, cheese, peanut butter, leftovers I am trying to hawk, and sometimes stuff like hardboiled eggs (if I am making a potato salad, for instance, I will usually boil a few extra and stick them in there for the kids.
We also used to keep our beer supply in there, and our kids of course knew it was off limits. Until one day when the older one was about twelve, he tells a friend that "We're allowed to have anything we want from the fridge in there." And the friend goes and opens the fridge, sees the alcohol and asks, in tones of awe, "Dude! Your parents let you have BEER?" At that point I decided the kids were growing up and moved the alcohol to a less accessible location.
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