Household chaos is a term that refers to a confusing and disorganized home. It’s when kids don’t know when dinner will be served or when they can’t find their clean clothes. Chaos in a household is due to hurriedness and a lack of routine. Though that might sound normal for you, studies showed that such a home harms the growth, health, and well-being of the children. It’s about time parents learn how to take control of the household and bring back order.
How do you know you have a chaotic environment at home? First, it’s like a war zone in there. Second, you can rarely find things when you need them. Third, you cannot relax in the house. And fourth, among many other things, you can never work out a routine. Everything boils down to a lack of organization. While short-term bouts of chaos are normal, the permanent ones have a profound impact on child development.
Making the Home Safe
Ensuring that the home is safe is one thing you have to take care of when you have kids in the house. That means calling a licensed electrician to check the flow of electricity in the house and a plumber to inspect the septic and plumbing system. Once you’re assured of the integrity of the home and its systems, you need to focus on running it like a drill sergeant. While you should give your children a voice, it is also vitally important for them to follow household rules.
Accepting the Need for Change
Gather the family and talk about what a chaotic household you have. Aren’t everyone deaf from the loud TV? Don’t you all want some peace? Does anyone love the feeling of not even knowing where the clean clothes are? The only way to establish organization in a household is to get everybody involved. They need to commit to changing your ways and following a new lifestyle.
Be a Bit Boring
Do you have so much going on in your lives? It might be time to stop and be boring for a while. This means that you have to stick to a routine. You can’t go to a picnic on a whim if that’s not in the schedule. Make a routine wherein the family will have meals at a specific time. Everyone needs to be at the dinner table at that exact time, regardless of what they are doing—homework, studying, watching TV, chatting with their friends, etc.
Slow Down
Avoid overscheduling. Your kids don’t have to learn piano, violin, guitar, ballet, and karate at the same time. They can take one lesson per summer or spring. Let them choose what they’re interested in. Parents tend to get influenced by what they see in other families. But remember that when it comes to raising kids, there is no one-size-fits-all formula. You will gain more opportunities for bonding as a family by slowing down.
Getting Everyone to Help
Can the older kids take care of the smaller ones while you’re preparing dinner? Can your partner load up the washer while you do the homework with the kids? It takes the whole family to bring order to a household. Get everyone to help you.
It builds camaraderie within the family. It’s also a great way to bond with your kids. Showing them the ropes will teach them how to run their own households in the future. It’ll get them ready for college, too, when they have to live on their own. However, getting everyone to help in the household means trusting other family members to do their parts well.
Prioritize Goals
Break down your goals into smaller and more manageable ones. Keep the most important goals on the top. It is easier to keep track of your goals when you attack the vital ones first. Once you successfully reached the bigger goals, it is easier to focus on smaller tasks. You’ll realize that you can accomplish more and accomplish them better when you tackle essential goals first.
Stop Micromanaging
It is tempting to micromanage the household. You want to be on top of everything. But micromanaging things entails multitasking. Studies showed that multitasking is counterproductive. Though it seems that you are accomplishing more, you’re actually doing them poorly. Try not to micromanage and, instead, delegate tasks to the rest of the family.
Bringing order to the household is not an easy task. It will take a lot of work before you begin to notice the changes. But it’s better to start now than watch the chaos affect your children’s well-being.
