Glowing!

Church floor after I cleaned it.

This may sound silly... I sent myself this picture, after I finished cleaning the floor at church where I am the custodian.  Not to show to people and brag. But for pure enjoyment, for me, in a job well done. My husband just shakes his head and says,"you're weird."

Maybe, but  I learned the pleasure of the reward of a job "well done" early on, and I think it is something we forget to teach our children.
My kids and now my grandkids started following me around cleaning when they were little. If they could hold something and I was cleaning why not give them a dust rag and let them help? That does not mean that they got the "Bug" or kept it.
I still remember the day my kids came home and told me they thought they should get an allowance for cleaning. For doing their jobs everyday. "Really?" I said. "and who do you think pays me?"
Silence.
"Well all our friends get an allowance for doing their jobs!"
"Well", said I, "you won't".I continued to explain, "Nobody is going to pay you to keep your house clean when you are adults." "A good job is it's own reward". "Dad and I get you what you need when you need it". "We all live in this house and we are all responsible for it". "Nobody pays dad and I to take care of these things at home"." We go to work for money and come home and work at home for our family". "To wit, you are all a part of... so guess what?"
" No allowance..."was the reply.

Now I may sound mean, but I don't think so. It's true! You must learn to find the reward of a job well done.

I used many things to help make the kids see cleaning as a fun and doable thing.
The ten minute pick up- watching TV? Every time there is a commercial, everybody gets up and cleans something for ten minutes. 5 people+ 3 ten minute commercials a show = 150 minutes of cleaning time and before you know it the work is done. All in the span of one half hour of TV programming. Nice!

Job day- Well the kids groaned, but we did have fun. I would play the music loud. they could here it on the street when they were walking home and knew. JOB DAY! Except I think they said it more like Aww... job day.... I would have a list once a month ,usually 4 or 5 pages long , front and back. I would place it on the dining room table with a snack and all the cleaning supplies needed. By the way, this must be done on a Friday so as not to interfere with homework. So we would all pick a job from the list, do the job,check it off when done and move on to the next. Yeah, it was hard work. but when we were done there was pizza and thanks and everybody felt great in the pretty, clean, house.

I do not mean to give the impression that my children are now super cleaners, or that they enjoy the process. Some are and do. Some are not and don't. But at least they are not waiting for the world to do it for them, or reward them for doing it.

That I love cleaning is my thing... Oh and my house is not perfect by any means either. I am still an artist, and well, that means artistic stuff is always around and about my house. But underneath it is clean!

But really once you do the work and know how well the job is done, don't you just enjoy that glow...  I do.