The joy of older children

[ServingGod]

Yesterday dh and I decided that we would have a family project day. Our bedroom had become sadly neglected and our closet had turned into a catch all.
He and I focused on that and I sent the kids to clean the playroom. I gave them a list of what to do and directives and told them to be ruthless.

They were totally ruthless and bagged up over 10 garbage bags full of toys to toss out. They only kept what they play with consistently.
Not only that, they carried everything out to the barn to wait for garbage day.
I got about 12 garbage bags of clothes for Goodwill, and they took those out and put them in my suv.
Then they vacuumed the empty playroom, and my 11yo decided he wanted to have his own room...so we moved his bed in there, and the boys spent awhile decorating their own rooms with their belongings and artwork.

This morning I went upstairs to grab some socks and my 9yo was in his room with all of the books pulled out of the bookcase, he decided to organize his books.

SO funny because I came across a huge cache of baby pictures and was feeling all sad about how fast they were growing up, and then they did all these great things without being asked, or reminded...simply on their own accord, and I realized that I like this stage of life much better than when they were little. :giggle

[Mama Bird]

Wow! That's fantastic! Drop in to the AHBC and collect those declutter points. :giggle

I agree, older kids are really neat! I wasn't sure how I'd feel about them, but I find that I really, really enjoy spending time with my bigs. My uptighness with the house is starting to rub off on Miss E and she is becoming a neat freak. :giggle

It is nice when they're big enough to trust to do some bigger tasks...and when they're big enough to really enjoy a conversation with. :heart

[mom2g2b]

My older kids are such a blessing. We recently moved. I was unpacking the kitchen stuff, had 3 boxes left to unpack, and was starting to drag. My 14 yr old son came in and finished up for me. He is a big guy and had done a lot unloading the truck and carrying heavy things that day.

[nessnco]

I have loved every stage of parenting except the 11 year old girls :mad and I have to say having adult kids is brilliant, watching them travel and participate in life so fully makes me very thankful for being an AP parent and it certainly has paid off. I wish I had known about grace better though, thankfully with DSD I have a second chance. :clap

[cbmk4]

Yeah, I so love my teenagers! (not that I don't also love my younger girls)

Yesterday ds had five 9th grade boys over to work on filming their movie for English class. They were up to all sorts of antics, in and out of the house after being out in the woods and the yard. They neglected to take their shoes off when coming in, which is a house rule. After they all left, I chose not to make my first conversation with ds be about all the dirt they had tracked in. He caught me vacuuming up a few clumps of mud and immediately apologized for the mess. He then took the vacuum and finished cleaning the family room.

I love how far he's come in taking responsibility for his own messes and appreciating how if he doesn't take care of them, it puts more work on someone else.

[MaybeGracie]

:heart