Dirty Laundry

As we adjust to summer vacation - all 3 kids home all day - a lot of running and late nights - we are having issues with attitudes and listening.  Since I am a stay-at-home mom I am with my children 24 hours a day and they are also stuck with each other for the majority of the day.  Lately I have found myself yelling and losing my temper by 10 a.m.  I don't like yelling at my kids - it doesn't make me feel good about myself, it doesn't make my kids feel loved, and it very often has no impact on the situation besides making it louder.  Our particular issues are LISTENING, MINDING OUR OWN BUSINESS, and COMPLAINING.  Our children are each loving and wonderful creatures but they have their difficult sides, too, which have been showing up much to frequently.  I refuse to spend the next 3 months angry and frustrated instead of enjoying my time with all the kids home.  Scott and I have discussed at length how to "fix" our kids and continued to come up empty handed.

Scott deals with enough stress at work everyday and when he comes home he doesn't need to come home to an unhappy house with a frustrated wife and disobedient children.  I am not saying that the kids are never well behaved - thankfully they are usually quite well behaved when we are in public and the good moments at home far outweigh the bad - it is just that I know WE can do better - especially under our own roof.  Scott brings me the driver paperwork that comes in the mail each morning so I can review it for him.  Thursday morning things were already difficult with the kids by the time he stopped and he knew I was getting frustrated.  I happened to hop on Facebook for a bit when he left and I'm convinced it was God's will that one of the first things that popped up was an entry from The Better Mom.  It was about using God's word to correct in your family.  I sent the link to Scott right away so that we would both be on the same page - it is impossible to have a loving, peaceful, obedient household if both parents aren't united and consistently have the other's back.

Since it was raining our extra-curricular running was considerably lighter and it gave me the perfect opportunity to have a long conversation with the kids about truly listening, helping with a happy heart, and treating everyone with love and respect no matter what.  We opened up a couple different Bibles and read the verses cited in the article.  We learned that obedience is not optional, it is commanded by God.  My favorite verse that we read was Philippians 2:14, "Do everything without complaining or arguing."  We have revisited these passages daily since then - as a matter of fact, several times a day I will say "Do everything..." and they will finish the passage - it makes them think twice before saying they don't want to or dragging their feet.  It's easier to insist that they take care of their belongings or help clean the house not because Dad or Mom says so, but because God says so.  I hope you will take the opportunity to read the full article - The Bette Mom - Using Gods Word to Correct in Your Family.  It's not easy to put your short-comings out there, but if it can help someone out in a similar situation, then it's all worth it!

To encourage helping and cooperating I put them to work yesterday afternoon baking a couple loaves of banana bread - they did pretty well and kept the squabbling to a minimum!

Enjoying the fruits of their labor!

Since we're airing our "dirty laundry" today, I thought I'd share the recipe we use for homemade laundry detergent.  I have sensitive skin and even break out from All Free and Clear - this is a SUPER CHEAP, easy alternative.

LAUNDRY DETERGENT

1 bar Fels-Naptha

1 lb. 9.3 oz. Borax

1 lb. 2.3 oz. Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

1 lb. 5.3 oz. Arm & Hammer Baking Soda

1 lb. 2.6 oz. Oxiclean

Only 5 ingredients that can all be found at your grocery store or Fleet and Farm.

Start by grating the bar of Fels-Naptha (or whatever soap you would like - Ivory, Dove...)  After the entire bar is grated, blend it up as fine as you can get it.

Use a kitchen scale to weight the rest of the ingredients.  Add in the measured amount of Borax and blend again - this helps break the bar soap down even more.

Empty the blended ingredients into a container with a lid (we use old ice cream buckets).  Then add in the Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda, baking soda, and Oxiclean.  Put the cover on tight and shake it until it's all mixed.  We use about 2 tablespoons per average load.  A bucket lasts several months!

Note:  I broke down a larger scale recipe hence the random amounts - You don't need to be super particular for it to work!