Why didn't I think of this sooner???

[PrincessFiona]

I saw a tv show where a family with 9 children 8O was displayed. How did the woman manage? Each one of her older children was 'responsible' for one of hte younger children...the older children had to set the table/pour cereal for the younger children before being allowed to eat, etc...when the oldest got up he made sure that his 'buddy child' was dressed too....same with brushing teeth, etc.

So I thought...what the heck...we 'only' have 4, but I wonder if this would work. Fastforward a few days. I 'assigned' Andrew to Alex and Amanda to Aidan. Now Andrew runs around all day making sure Alex is eating, dressed, brushing his teeth before getting into bed, etc. Amanda is brushing Aidan's teeth each night and learning how to change his diaper with me....and they fight over who GETS to do which job....

I, of course am doing the lion share of work still, but I think it is great that they feel a sense of responsibility for each other....

Why didn't I think of this sooner????

kris

[SueC]

What a great idea! I could see how this could really work if you had school-aged children. I have given my 4 year old a little task with her little sister, which is to remind her to follow certain table manners like chewing with her mouth closed, etc., and it is working beautifully, though they are too close in age to really apply the "buddy system".

[Cumberland]

Remember a few months ago when DH was in Africa? He said that is how all the mom's in the camp he was in managed. They would strap the babies to the backs of their big brothers or sisters and let them run around all day. They were always near by for feedings etc but the mom knew they were relatively safe bc they were attached ( literally) to their bigger sibling.

[BonBon]

Kris, I remember reading a magazine article about a family with 14(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) kids, and this is exactly what they did. It seemed to work for them, and I think it teaches kids a great deal about responsibility. (and perhaps makes them more tolerant of their siblings? ) Even though we are also planning on having *only* four , I fully intend on using this method!!!

That's so cool that your kids are really getting into this.

My husband suggested this (he thought he thought of it all by himself ) at the same time he suggested having eight kids. He even took it to the next level, that the older child would be responsible for taking the 'buddy child' to whatever extracurricular event they were involved in. I'm not sure how that would work, but I really like the idea of teaching responsiblity. Its great your kids like it so much.