A Little Tough Love Never Hurt Anyone

Mothers all over the world are overworked mostly because they feel like they have to do it all by themselves. This especially happens to working mothers, who, guilty of not spending enough time with their kids, will try and make up for it when they get home.  

Well, truth is, your child will love you regardless, and so you don’t have to kill yourself while trying to do it all alone. Whether you are a stay-at-home mom or GST Lawyer, here are some simple duties to take off the load.

 

• Feeding Time and Food Prep

 

You don’t have to feed the baby all the time while your husband sits and watches TV. They should naturally help when they are not bust so you can do other things. I found it best to alternate duties where I was feeding the baby and he was prepping baby’s food for the next day. I found he was the better baby food feeder and it was perfect time for them to bond.

 

• Brushing Teeth

 

I used to brush my 4-year-old’s teeth until my mom found me doing it and asked me to stop immediately. They were never going to learn how to do it right until they had to do it themselves. While I was worried that my son was too young to handle this task, he proved me wrong after we guided him through it. Now we have one less activity to worry about.

The same goes for brushing their hair. By age 5, they should already have a handle at this. If you are still doing it yourself, you are only increasing your chores and spoiling them.

 

• Organizing Toys and Dirty Laundry

 

My children are at the stage where they are all curious about chores and money as we are also teaching them the value of it. We have resulted to offering them treats so they can clean up after themselves. We are also teaching them that they responsible for their toys, and to show them how serious we are, we take away the ones they leave lying on the ground. We also confiscate a toy – for a week – for every item of clothing left on the ground. This last part has taught them some etiquette real fast that we wonder what took us so long to implement.

 

• Cater to your Pet

 

If you ask for a pet, you had better be prepared to care for it. We wanted one too – on the down low – but wanted them to ask for it so they could learn responsibility. They should be able to help clean, feed, and walk the dog.

Other things I learned from the get-go include administering some tough love now and then. I refuse to remind my kids to use the bathroom before we go out each time and they have learned to do it by themselves these days. They know they have to wait if they don’t do it sooner.