Healthy Comfort Foods that are Delicious and Nutritious
by Dian Thomas
With
the New Year comes the opportunity to delegate household
responsibilities. I remember as a high school student this happened
in our home. My mother decided that she would go back to teaching
and so she did not have as much time to do the housework.
My
parents decided that it was time for each one of us to step up and
help more at home. We had four kids at home so the first thing they
did was to assign us a night to prepare a meal. We were to turn in
to our mother on Saturday morning a list of the foods that we needed
and then my mother would buy the groceries that day. As I remember,
one brother always fixed pizza on his night; the other brother fixed
hamburgers. You could tell which day it was by the food that was
served that evening for dinner.
My
mother also had a very clever way to have dinner prepared on Sundays.
She had a plan for the meal and early Sunday morning she would write
the menu on the chalkboard. If there were six people that would be
there for dinner, she would plan to have six assignments. She did
not make the assignment for the meal. It was each family member’s
responsibility to sign up for what they wanted to do. The first
person to the board always signed up for the easiest item. There was
an incentive to get there early so you were not stuck with the most
difficult assignment.
Delegating
tasks to be done by children will probably take more time in the
beginning as you set up the plan and make the assignment. Children
need to first learn how to do the tasks. Parents need to help
children learn to do a task thoroughly by working with them the first
few times they do it. It is good to work side by side with the child
until they get all the steps down for the job that is assigned. It
is helpful to write out each step of the job and then post the card
on an inside door where the task will be done. For example, if
cleaning the sinks is the assignment, you might write the following
on a card:
Take all items off the counters.
Get out clean cloths and cleanser.
Wet one of the cloths with warm water.
Wipe the counters.
Put cleanser in sink and clean with wet cloth.
With another dry cloth wipe down sink, taps, and counter.
Put item that were on the counter back in place.
Task
charts can also be made so that the children have a place to check
off their assignment when they are finished. Place the names of the
children down the left side of a sheet of paper and have a square for
each day of the week across the top. Then assignments can go in the
appropriate square. Tasks are checked off as they are done.
The end benefit of the
project is that everyone is trained to do the different jobs and,
when they get old enough and leave home, they are ready to keep an
efficient and well-managed home.
Dian’s
Book Tipping
the Scales in Your Favor
shares her weight loss journey. For years Dian’s tried and
tried to lose weight but it was not until Jackie Keller said to her
in California, “I can help you lose weight” that she
caught the vision and lost over 115 pounds and, most important, she
has been able to keep it off. Get Dian’s book today and begin
the journey to healthy living. Go to www.DianThomas.com
to learn more.
Dian
Thomas’s Idea Pack Library:
You will never run out of ideas when you have this wonderful set of
books. Check
out Dian Thomas’ Creative Books Library Special: She
now had a special offer to save 60% on 5 books and 1 DVD. Get Dian’s
creative library for only $40.00. Save $60 dollar and have over 25
years of her creative and amazing ideas. This package will be great
for gifts, for fun, and for kids and grandchildren.. Take advantage
of this limited offer at www.DianThomas.com.
Dian Thomas was blessed with the good fortune to be born near and raised in
the remote, breathtaking Manti-La Sal National Forest in southeastern Utah,
where her father was the forest ranger. She took the skills she learned in the
outdoors and turned them into a New York Times best-selling book, Roughing It
Easy. Her appearance on the NBC's "Tonight" show with Johnny Carson
boosted her into the national media scene, where she became a regular on
NBC's "Today" show for eight years and then ABC's "Home Show" for six years.
After more than 25 years of media exposure and 19 books, she now shares her
practical insights and wisdom with audiences who want to savor life.
A former Relief Society president, Dian is currently serving as a visiting
teacher. Visit her website at www.DianThomas.com