Book Review: 401 Ways to Get Your Kids to Work at Home

I read 401 Ways to Get Your Kids to Work at Home by Bonnie McCullough and Susan Monson on a recent family vacation. I discovered that it's so much easier to get along with your children when your expectations are low, like they are on vacation! But now we're back to real life and it's a little bit harder...

This book is a little dated, published in 1981, but I did enjoy reading it. I liked the variety of useful ideas in it. The premise of the book is that the parents need help getting the work done and children need to learn basic life skills so they will not be incompetent when it is time for them to leave home. I totally agree. They also make the point from a survey they took that children feel they should help at home. Children might not always recognize this, but it feels good to recognize that you are making a valued contribution.

The authors are mothers who wrote this book while in the trenches. It is clear to me that they know kids and parents pretty well. They surveyed parents they knew to get more ideas and it's nice to have a variety to get your own ideas. One idea I have been trying to implement since reading the book is using the fingers of one hand to list the chores that need to be done in the morning (make bed, get dressed, etc.). I'll be training on that for a while and only with my youngest two who need the most help remembering and getting in a good routine.

I won't try to summarize all the different categories of ideas they presented. Instead I'll address one chapter I found helpful. This chapter was "Organizing the Bedroom". They make the point that kids need help with cleaning their bedrooms and the first thing that needs to happen is an evaluation of why the room gets messy and look for possible solutions as to what would help it stay cleaner longer. The suggestions were common-sense but it was nice to have it written out.

The majority of the book is spent discussing and explaining the 401 ideas; the end of the book lists them in a list. This is a good resource for people who need some fresh ideas on how to help their children work more around the house.

Comments

Visiting Susquehanna: The Priesthood Restoration Site

On our way home from Palmyra, we decided to go a couple of hours out of our way to visit the recently opened Priesthood Restoration Site along the Susquehanna River. This is where we believe that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist which gave them the authority to baptize. This site also has the restored Isaac and Elizabeth Hale home where Joseph and Emma lived for a year as well as the home where Joseph and Emma lived on their own. We spent a couple of hours there and I wouldn't have minded a few more minutes but we had a long way to go that night. It's a beautiful setting, very much in rural Pennsylvania. However, on the day we were there, cars at a racetrack nearby were detracting from the peace and quiet. I'm guessing that's not as big of a problem on weekdays. The Hale Family was quite well-off for their day so their home was probably nicely decorated with wallpaper and carpet. ...

Hansen Family Reunion 2026, Wednesday and Thursday

We had another Hansen Family Reunion at Bear Lake! In total, there were 93 of us there with 11 missing--our biggest yet! We enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up a little bit. Here are some pictures. My goal was to get a picture of everyone, so if you don't see a picture of yourself, keep scrolling. Also, more individuals coming on the post for Friday. Sorry for the weird angles on some of them. Michelle made dinner the first night, chicken and vegetables with Michelle's specialty--lots of sides and plenty of leftovers. After dinner and clean-up, we had a FHE lesson outside on the lawn with Melanie in charge of the lesson after a few raucous songs. The newest addition to the family, #103. On Thursday morning, Kent and Melanie chaired breakfast with eggs and sausage and plenty for everyone. The cook with his breakfast sandwich: After breakfast, some of the group went rock-climbing, courtesy of Everett, David, and Susanna while more people went on a hike--the Limber Pine Hike....

Nauvoo Pageant!

I have been a negligent blogger this last month. My reason is that we have been super busy. At the end of July, we went to the Nauvoo Pageant. We were able to participate once again in the Gold Cast like we did in 2007 and 2014. We picked up our daughter at the end of her cross country camp in Price, Utah on our way out of town. Then we drove to our friends' house in Golden, Colorado near Denver to stay the night. It was fun to reconnect if only briefly. The next night we were in Lawrence, Kansas, visiting my brother and sister-in-law and their family. That was also fun but short. We left the next morning, attending nearby church before taking off. We arrived in Nauvoo around 4pm with just enough time to have dinner at our cabin before going to our orientation at the pageant building. The next day we went to the pageant building to get our costumes and to learn how to do our hair in the 1840 styles. ...

Search This Blog