Sunday, June 16, 2013

Sweep Training

Just because I do things a certain way doesn't mean others should do it that way as well.
That said, in my house I have become accustom to house work done in a most efficient manner, and such that it's become an art, my only issue is the timing.  I can even say I enjoy it in The Flow of the household as I've surrendered to the Reality that it never, never, ever, ends.  I care about it enough that I want it done well, and in a timely manner.  There's no guarantee that children will pick up on my methods, and The Eldest needed some broom training today.  

There are certain things that really need to be taught outright, "This way. This is how I do this.  This is why...."  Eventually, one might come up with a more reliable, even more efficient means of getting the job done, but for now, this is how it's done.  When I was a kid I think I was expected to simply know, gleaning the knowledge from the environment.  Developmentally reasonable expectations weren't considered, I learned quickly never to say, "I don't know" and even more so I learned never to be wrong.  It was too risky.

According to Miss Monkey, she had to sweep 3, THREE, times today!  OMG.  But really she swept 1 and one half times by my calculation.  These beautiful floors are easy to clean; however, with random construction/home improvements occurring and children about, it's impossible that they remain clean for more than a few hours at most---and that's with the proper daily/weekly timing.  There's a method to the floors; stay behind the broom (as in front of the mop), start on one side/corner moving to the other side/corner (like painting), wipe one's feet often on the broom to avoid tracking wayward dust, leave the dust pan in an accessible place to avoid trekking through dirt piles, sweep from one side of the house to t'other & top to bottom, preferably all fans are off & no wind sends dust bunnies fleeing.  That the gist of it.  Imparting that to the willful seven year old, eh, challenging.  Once upon a time, The Man remarked that I "sweep like a goddess", and imparting this to her got more than a passing interest.

I won't start with the laundry methods until she's really truly interested in helping.  Maybe we'll start with Baby laundry, she's such a baby hawk of late it's sometimes hard to keep her in check.

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