Tidying

Photo credit - John Nettleship

No, not of that sort. I hate cleaning anyway - I will never be house proud, but then, nor do I live in a complete tip but it is like fighting a losing battle sometimes.

I did, however, have a certain amount of tidying up of loose ends to tackle that have been building up. They sat there niggling at me, occupying a little part of brain that nags me as I'm going to sleep, or when I'm trying to have a quiet moment.

No more. Yesterday, without too much work on and alone in the house, I set about my chores.

First, I filled in my tax return. My affairs aren't too complicated and I had everything I needed. At least I thought I did, until I realised I needed the PAYE reference of the people I've been doing casual work for so I fired off an email and got my answer in 10 minutes.Racing through the rest of the form, I signed and dated the form with a flourish, and placed the form in an envelope on the side.

Once that was done, it seemed natural to continue on to renew our tax credits claim. I had husband's P60 but had to ring him to check some details, then I had to guesstimate our income for the coming year. (Oh yes, I am a pro at this now.) No real form-filling this time - I prefer to ring up. Ringing up at lunchtime is always a bit of a lottery but after a lengthy recorded message, part of which warned I may have to wait some length of time to speak to a real person, the call was answered within two seconds. After ploughing through the information, I gave her the numbers I had for last year and this year and we were done in 10 minutes.

Two tasks done and I was on a roll. There was only one thing for it - tackle the filing. Eurgh. I fortified myself with a sandwich and a brew, before heading up to the spare room and sorting all the paperwork into piles. It would appear I haven't filed since last August - how the hell did that happen? As ever, it took less time than I think it's going to do, probably the reason I left it so long. Another job ticked off. Surely I couldn't  get anything else done?

You'd be wrong. My old laptop has been lurking around since it failed last November, waiting for me to afford a repair and find someone local who can do it for me. Months ago, someone recommended a local company to me but I couldn't remember their name but a quick Google threw up their website. I tried calling the number and there was no reply.Ten minutes later, I tried again and this time, someone answered. I explained the problem to them and they told me they think it's a simple repair and probably won't cost more than about £50. Result! All I have to do is get the laptop to them. So, after a quick dash round, I picked up laptop and envelope containing tax return and headed out, stopping to buy a stamp for the tax return and posting (another job ticked).

So, tax return sent and the laptop got dropped off and I still made it to school in time to pick up the children without suffering the indignity of turning up late and having to collect the children from the main door instead of their classroom. In fact, I was early!

Since then, I've made tea, had Missy Woo read to me, tidied up the kitchen, stacked the dishwasher, and answered some emails about work. I'm thinking of having the night off. What do you think? Where do I get my medal from? 


That little part of my brain been silenced, for now, at least. Until the next thing crops up, that is. 

Doing housework with your children - some dos and don'ts

DO


Give them a duster and polish when they say they want to do the dusting whilst you're still doing the kitchen. You'll love it when they come back 15 minutes later with a now empty can of polish and two sodden dusters.

Allow them to have a go at vacuuming upstairs whilst you continue downstairs. They won't make the spare room a worse mess at all trying to get it out. Their screams and giggles will suggest they're having a great time, not trying to administer death by suction.

Actually check what they have claimed to have done. Their attention spans are short and so the fourth room they claim to have dusted might still be quite dusty. Or not dusted at all.

Give them different jobs to do. One can be happily assigned to asking constant questions, whilst the other can be assigned to mucking up the task in hand. This will ensure the chores will get done in half the time. Or maybe twice.

DON'T

Set a time limit for finishing the job. Housework is a good way to fill a whole rainy day and keep your children amused.

Supervise them too closely as this will give them a sense of independence. Also known as slacking off what you've just asked them to do.

Offer bribes to get them to help you. Children are usually willing participants. Oh, but there is chocolate. (Don't mention it's their own Easter eggs...)

Forget to have a plentiful supply of tea, coffee and biscuits. For you. (Oh, and wine in the fridge for later.)

And finally...

DO worry if they simultaneously go quiet for more than 30 seconds and a television, smartphone or computer is not involved. (This applies to all parenting, not just housework!)

Photo credit - lusi

Child labour? Help me out!

Photo credit - lusi

Monkey is a child that is never satisfied. You give him toys, he wants another. He thinks he should have a new one every day. If it is not that, he wants some Match Attax or thinks he deserves a treat. This has to stop if he's to get a Christmas present.

The other day, I had to take the children to Asda to do a weekly shop and whilst they were good and helpful, they wanted to know whether they could visit the toy aisle (no), get some Match Attax (no) or buy a game or DVD (no again but useful diversion when I'm going through the checkout as the DVD section is just beyond the tills).

When we got back in the car, Monkey asked when he could have a treat. Once again, for what felt like the thousandth time, I explained about money, things costing and having money to spend. And then the light bulb went on in my head. Having remembered that the children have helped with chores from time to time, I suggested that perhaps they'd like to earn money from doing some chores which they'd get as a kind of pocket money at the weekend and they can spend as they choose.

When we got home that day, they were keen to help and despite having a house that was upside down, they helped me to get it fairly clean and tidy. Unfortunately, Missy Woo blotted her copybook by "testing" a felt tip pen all over one of the internal doors which I had to spend 15 mins scrubbing to remove.

But anyway, they have slacked off somewhat since Sunday (quelle surprise). They do know, howver, that keeping their rooms and their playroom tidy all week will earn them a pound. I said I would work out prices for different jobs. I've made a few up, but was wondering what other parents do?  At the moment, they are only old enough to do things like tidying up and dusting, although they did a bit of hoovering with supervision.

So, parents, tell me if you pay your children to do chores and if so, how much for which tasks? I'd really love to know whatever their age and capabilities. If you've older children and can remember what you did when the children were a similar age to my two (6 and 5), that would be useful too.

Do leave your answers in the comments below.