I moved this comment by Lora Lynn to the top because she’s brilliant. She captures the whole thing perfectly—life with little ones— with her laundry game. She totally gets it:

I don’t have time to wait till mine are four to make them put away their own laundry. My twins are not 3 yet and I’ve already taught them this task. I got three big galvanized buckets from IKEA. I labeled them with pictures of pants, shirts, and pj’s. Once they learned the system, I use laundry time as a way to get out little boy energy.

They take their clothes upstairs, one or two pieces at a time. After five trips up and down the stairs, they’ve burned a few wiggles. I’ve now taught them to help me put away my own laundry by showing them which are mommy and daddy’s sock and underwear drawer. They have races to and from the drawers as they put away each item INDIVIDUALLY. That part is key for me. Putting away laundry (a task I hate) and burning some energy.

laundry dayI like how she combines work and play. She turns work into a game. All my kids go bonkers for our “30-second Pick Up.” This is where I countdown (slowly) aloud from 30. With four of them scampering about, our family room is presentable in 30 seconds—even the floor schmutzies are up.

Since the Bible teaches that all of life is worship (I Cor. 10:31), we ought to live with God’s glory in mind in whatever we do. Work and play; play and work. There are plenty of opportunities to bear one’s cross, but in the instances where we can make some lemonade, we should. Have some fun.