Preparing for Our Community Service Project as a Family

            In anticipation of the upcoming Natural Parenting Blog Carnival, Dej and I decided to do a community service project with our children. The four little imps have proven quite impish as usual, but they are determined and eager to help, much to my delight.  

            While my youngest is still in a baby sling, we decided that we were going to get involved as a family and spread the joy and gratitude that we have. Since Jenevieve and Saja are both old enough to have input, and Corrim can say a few words of opinion, Dej and I decided to let them pick out what they would do.

            The girls decided and Corrim later agreed to purge the house of everything that we don't need and then give it to the families affected by the storms and fires. They set their own rules for this, which have really surprised me by their maturity. Here they are:

1)      If we have not played with it or worn it in six months and it isn't seasonal, we give it away.

2)      If we have more than one of it and don't need an extra, we give it away.

3)      If we only kind of like it and we don't need it, we give it away.

4)      If it takes up a lot of space and we only use it a little, then we give it away.

I suspect that the girls are hoping to get rid of the monstrosity of a folding chair that is in their play room. Dej and I have had that chair, and it became the official nursing chair after Jenevieve was first born.

So for the past week, we have been cleaning and purging, and it has been a very insightful time for all of us.