Mommy guilt wasn’t something I often struggled with until recently. Now I seem to struggle with it all of the time. Having a demanding work schedule along with my responsibility to my photography clients, writing and my role as Municipal Liaison (ML) for my regional NaNoWriMo, has left me with not a lot of quality time. That is when Mommy Guilt came roaring at me. And before you say, “But Jacque, just stop doing some of those other things. Family is first!” Yes, I know this. My role as ML is only demanding during October and November and, sadly, I turned down a lot of photography jobs because I just didn’t have the time. It is mostly my work schedule, and that can’t be helped. Not if I want to do a good job. But I digress.
Recently, while I was hanging out with Mommy Guilt and berating myself because it seemed like the only time I had with my kids was spent cleaning or cooking or putting them to bed, I had a great idea. I would make my kids cook and clean and I would take a nap. HA HA, just kidding. But I would give them more responsibility in cleaning and taking care of the house through using planners and we would do it together! We would plan out our week, have chore charts and each kid would help me cook a meal that we could also eat later in the week as leftovers. It would solve so many problems! Only I couldn’t find anything online like what I was looking for. Especially the planner part. So I made my own planner pages!
Now two weeks into this process, and mission accomplished. Mommy Guilt has packed her bags and is now chain smoking in a seedy hotel laying in wait for a poor unsuspecting overworked mom to move in with and my house is a little bit cleaner!. The kids are learning how to clean and we are spending quality time together cooking! Plus we have healthy meals for the week. Win win!
I’m adding my planning pages and chore chart to this blog post so you can make use of them. We put their planner pages and chore charts into a three ring binder, added some binder sleeves to it to throw in their school work and art projects and let them decorate the front. Initially I only put this together for my eight and ten year old sons, but my five year old daughter jumped on the band wagon and demanded her own planner. More free labor! I plan to post my kid tested cooking together recipes later, so stay tuned for those.
Have a great week!
Download from the link below and have fun!
Planner pages in PDF but an editable excel version can be found here
Cleaning checklist younger child
Jacqueverse 