There she blows!

My poor children. I woke up from a nap today and I was mad!! All I could see was the HUGE mess that the house had become. I didn't handle things very well. What I wanted to do was either send the kids away so that I could clean it all without distraction or I wanted them to do it all so that I could leave. Neither of those things happened. I instead worked beside them and barked out orders at them. One of the children kept sneaking out one door or the other as soon as they were done with a job, in great hopes that I would forget about them and they wouldn't have to work anymore. Another child was fussing the whole time. Another child was out with her friend. Another child was angry with me and let me know it! The last child, bless her heart was working and doing everything she could to please her mommy. I wasn't out of control with anger, but my attitude was really wrong. You see, during Family Camps (all 8 weeks), I hardly see the children and they really don't do much work around here. They are free to play with their friends and do all those fun things that they only do during camp. I hate to spoil their fun, so I let them go and I end up doing most of the house work. I choose this option for myself and then I resent them for not helping me. (I have warned you before about my twisted mind!) Well, I let the feelings of "no one helps me around here" fester, until I exploded today. It didn't take me long to see, how wrong I was today to blame them for MY choices!! Somehow I find it so easy to be the victim, instead of taking responsibility for my choices! Well, this Mama is now making some new choices! Tonight I am making a schedule of chores for each of them, and they will be required to do them.....correctly!

It has been an hour or so since I posted this and I have been thinking. The problem is not that I gave my children 8 weeks of freedom. The problem is that they, LIKE ME, don't want to do things they don't want to do! I talked in an early post about my ability to procrastinate so well. Being the mom, I have the choice to procrastinate until later. Heaven knows, my work will be there whenever I choose to do it!! But I do not give my children that option when I abruptly walk into a room and demand that they do something now. Making a schedule will make things a lot easier on all of us. It will give them a little freedom of choice as to the timing and it will keep the work from building up and seeming so overwhelming!