Almost there....

Two and a half more days of school.  The kids are jumping around like crazy people.  They cannot wait until school is out.  There is something so pure about summer vacation.  For about three days.  That is when the fights start, the yelling, the chaos, the general yuckiness of siblings being siblings.  If you have an only child, then this will not pertain to you.  You must have at least two children in your household for this to take place.  I will give you an example.  The younger one is just watching his/her favorite TV show when the older one comes in and just changes the channel.  No warning, no "please", just "I am here and I am bigger than you, so there" attitude.  The younger one screams and the fight ensues.

This is how your whole summer could go.  I chose not to give into the madness.  The summer rules shall be typed up and signed by all parties.  They will have a loose summer schedule (my kitchen is not open all day every day) and there will be consequences.  I love consequences.  I have a chore jar.  I fill it with disgusting chores that I do not want to do.  Case in point---cleaning the tile in the bathroom around the toilet with a toothbrush.  No one wants to clean up pee, but if you are going to wreck the calmness, you are cleaning up pee.  Sorry.  Three boys and a husband and various other children in our household are enough for me.  I also put in cleaning the baseboards.  Dusting everything in the house, and you really do have to pick up all the little nicknacks along the way.  Weeding the flowers is a good one.  They have to be above and beyond the call of regular duty for these kids, or it will not make an impact.

If I stick to my guns, in about a week, we have courtesy, respect and mostly peace.  When the peace goes south, the chores come out.  Love it.  I cannot stand yelling and slamming, it is totally unacceptable to me.  They don't do it at the neighbors house, so they should not do it at ours.  Period.

What do you use to keep your house calm in the summer?  Let me know and let the ideas flow.

God bless you and yours.