7
Make Spaces More Manageable
I love the benefits we get from living in close quarters and I know the girls will have such great memories all bunked together in our little home. With that said, part of setting up your kids for success while doing chores is creating spaces that you all will be able to manage without becoming totally overwhelmed with stuff! We can’t ask our kids to do chores that we wouldn’t do ourselves. Here are some tips we’ve found to make our small-space living more manageable… OUTSIDE STORAGE Either a garage, shed, storage container, or storage facility nearby. VACATION PACK Pack your house like it’s vacation for that season and store everything else. It’s there when you need it, but less is more in your everyday space.
8
Create Accountability
Brian has a motto he frequently uses: “Nothing is above me and nothing is below me.” You just do it. It’s how you build things and grow things and get things done. Kids have to learn this too. There shouldn’t be any tasks that they think they are better than just because they’ve grown out of the obligation. Everybody works together. We also often tell the girls: “Don’t be a martyr.” I think it’s one of the most annoying traits of young adults (or adults of any age!) I think it can be a bad habit that kids learn by being enabled. If we hear any of this kind of excuse, “I can’t clean the yard because it’s raining and it’s cold and my sisters made the mess and it’s not MY FAULT!” we nip it in the bud and tell them “it is your problem now you figure out how to solve it.”
9
Allow Natural Consequences
CLOSETS BY SEASON Pull your clothes out that you aren’t There are very well-meaning wearing that season and store them people who become “helicopter somewhere else. Get rid of shoes parents” - hovering over their and clothes that you never wear. child’s every move. And “bulldozer parents” – the ones plowing a ONLY WHAT YOU NEED smooth path in front of their kids so Don’t keep what you don’t need! no bumps or bruises could be Less stuff in your home means experienced along their way. more space to enjoy it.
