Routine Goals
The preschool hour, cooking lessons, family devotions, home educating, personal devotions, quiet reading, puzzle building, game playing, responsibility training: when do all these things happen in a frazzled household?
All of those vital elements–priorities, if you will–of family life were precisely why an eye-rolling cleaning routine was necessary in my household. Housekeeping responsibilities can be contained and streamlined with planning, and if the household is going to be busy, then wherever streamlining works, it preserves time for activities requiring dedicated time.
A coordinated group routine for cleaning the kitchen following supper opens time for family devotions. Designed limits on daily cleaning clear the way for a preschool hour each morning. The accrued benefits of timed cleaning, planned menus and scheduled nap time give, not a few free minutes, but free afternoon hours for someone (maybe you?) to rest, to read, to pray, to think about behavior issues “scientifically,” to stare into space, if need be. (Don’t laugh; staring into space, if not a worrisome sign of a seizure, is a profitable daydreaming sign of the brain working beyond conscious constraints to creatively address dilemmas. Given good healthy brain food like Bible verses, pure motives, biblical priorities, and a willingness to think expansively, the brain can produce some amazing solutions.) Read more
Priority Stewardship 