Am I the only one doing housework till 10:30 or 11pm?

curlyhead

Sun, Oct 30 2011, 9:22 pm

Well according to this poll 50% are doing housework after 10pm. IT makes me feel better that I am not alone. I did not come on looking for advice how to change the situation but more for people to say that we still our. Binah Yeteriah you make me feel better as I know our kids are around the same age.

amother

Mon, Oct 31 2011, 11:47 am

I am not a night person, and I hate doing housework. I work eight hours a day, and have a 3 and 4 year old who are usually asleep by 715. My husband doesn't come home till after 8, so if I was a good girl I'd do my housework between when the kids go to sleep and when husband comes home. But I procrastinate becaue I hate cleaning up and because I can't even clean the kitchen cuz husband still needs supper. So I usually only start housework after 9 and by then I'm tired and it takes longer. I usually do some stuff early in the morning before work, but I leave early and like to spend whatever morning time I do have with my kids. So at night I'm usually done between ten and eleven depending on how much I procrastinated that night.

amother

Wed, Nov 16 2011, 10:41 am

shabbatiscoming wrote:

Raisin wrote:

buzz, when your kids are older it may be harder to get them in bed by 6pm.

I also do stuff when the kids are awake. I try and have supper early so we can clean up early.

But as children get older and older, it also gets easier and easier to do things in the house when they are awake, meaning, once kids are old enough to truly fend for themselves, you can do any and all your housework whenever you want.

and so what do I do when I have older and younger kids? I start bedtime at 6:45 and I'm not done till 9!

STMommy

Wed, Nov 16 2011, 2:10 pm

I also have younger children who, because they still nap, don't get into bed until 8:30 PM and that's when my 'day' of cleaning up begins. But I do agree with many of the posters here regarding getting the kids more involved in the housework. My girls love it when I hand them the clothes from the washing machine to throw into the dryer. Enlist the older one's help to put everything from the washing machine into the dryer, put in the dryer sheet, and turn it on. There are probably similar things that you could delegate to the kids, that you might be amazed at what they can do!

zaq

Wed, Nov 16 2011, 7:38 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

curlyhead wrote:

I should get the kids to help makes lunches and clear the table but there is a limit how much you could ask kids to do. I am not going to ask them to do a load of laundry or wash the dishes

why would you think that kids cant wash the dishes or do laundry? where do you think that they will learn to do those things? I know that my parents started teaching us those things as soon as they thought us able to do them (could have been 8 or 10 years old)

My mother obviously had a very high opinion of a child's capabilities, and she wasn't wrong. My dh teases me that I had a horrible childhood b/c I was dusting furniture by age 4--standing on a stool to reach some surfaces; washing dishes at age 5, ironing dishtowels at around the same age (under supervision, of course, but still), mopping floors by age 8, polishing silver no later than age 7...I'm not claiming to have done a world-class job at any of this, and certain things like ironing or using silver polish and other household chemicals I wouldn't let my kids do till much later. Still, my mother was brilliant--all these things were a privilege, at least in the beginning. I didn't read Tom Sawyer till much later.

Any 7-year-old of normal intelligence can do laundry if you have your own machine. I wouldn't let them handle bleach till they're maybe in JHS, but a kid who can read and do basic math and science can sort laundry, throw it in the machine, measure a capful of detergent, select a cycle, load size and water temp, and pull out the knob. Short kids may need help removing the wash from the machine but they are perfectly capable of hanging laundry on a rack or throwing it in the dryer if you have one.