Cakes and Kids

It has been a really long time since I have posted any pictures or blogs. In my defense, I have had a whole lot going on! However, when I am busiest is the best time to be blogging. So, I will try to catch up a bit. I’ll start with today though. This post won’t be so much a cake decorating post as a personal post but it relates to cakes a little bit. It worked so well, I just had to share.

My kids are young and in the process of learning to do chores. I have struggled with the process for a while because it is easier if I just do it all myself. However, there are two problems with that. First, the kids never learn to work and second, they don’t think about the messes they make because mom will clean it up. Well, this morning I had a brilliant idea!

Since my kids are totally into Ultimate Cake Off BECAUSE I WAS A COMPETITOR THIS SEASON (more on that later), I decided to make a timeline for them. Just like the one I used for the competition. I showed them the timeline (and highlighted where all of the breaks were) and told them that they needed to keep on the timeline in order to win the competition. Then I started the clock. It was amazing the amount of work they got done today…and I didn’t have to nag at them the whole time either. It was wonderful. If you’re interested in knowing how I made my chart, read on.

So, here’s how I did it. I made a chart that went in 15 minute increments. Each kid had their own chart as well as a master chart for me. I made the chores change every 15 minutes because I have young kids and they have VERY short attention spans. I also added in 15 minute breaks after every two chores. If they finished a chore before the 15 minutes were up, they got to take a break for the rest of that time.

I was actually able to get THREE HOURS worth of work out of my kids. Not to mention that they loved doing it. That is absolutely unheard of in this house. It was a lot of work for me keeping them all on task, but it wasn’t any more work than “just doing it myself”. As a reward, I gave them a movie (Pete’s Dragon). One of my favorites as a child. I don’t know if there are very many young mothers that have little Ultimate Cake Off fans. I just thought I would share, just in case.