Coming To My Senses

I took a page out of Itybtyfrog's book last night and decided to have the children help me clean up the whole house. My usual habit is to assign them an area, then gripe, moan and yell at them to get it taken care of. That really hasn't been working for me, and I'm sure they don't appreciate it either. So we did just what she said, we all cleaned in each room, and I really did get more work out of them this way. My seven year old *scrubbed pots*, guys. SCRUBBED. Like, with elbow grease and stuff. It was awesome. They really did help and here's the weird part: They liked it. They thought it was *fun*. I think I'll definately continue to do this. I've always counted working outside on projects with my family amoung my favorite activities, and I remember being a kid and HATING being "assigned" work, while everyone else did something else. But I also remember times when my Gram would see me working, and come join me, and how I loved her for it. How in the world did I ever lose sight of that? If my kids love me half as much as I love my Gram, I'll be the happiest mom in the county. Thanks so much for the reminder and wake up call.