Raising a balanced kid

So, it hit me like a load of bricks this morning.  I am never going to get the Pesach cleaning done without killing myself without the help of my family.  I have been trying to get the kids involved but they have so little time.  Sundays now they have little league so its just Sunday afternoons and during the school week not only are they bogged down with homework but I am so nothing gets done weekday afternoons.  Between my broken foot, sprained ankle, ear infection, and sinus infection I am a mess.  Normally at this point my kitchen is turned over and my house is 90% done and rid of chumatz.  (FYI- that doesn't mean its shining and spotless, it means I am 90% ridding it of chumatz.  My house will always looked well lived in.)

I spend a large percentage of our financial resources paying tuition for my kids to get a Jewish education.  I love how they come home able to give over the parsha and tell me all different kinds of halacha.  HOWEVER and as you can see its a big however, they need to learn how to live as a Jew as well.  Judaism is a living religion, not just a book thing.  My kids need a good hard lesson in this.  Woman in general seem to get the brunt of Pesach cleaning and the reality is, we aren't the only ones who are getting this chumatz everywhere.  The whole family contributes and to make Pesach work the whole family needs to be contributing to preparing for Pesach.  Seder night shouldn't be mommy falling on her face while everyone else has a moving seder.  If everyone pitches in, this won't happen.  Instead of cutting down on the Pesach cleaning, how about everyone contributes instead?

I have issues with homework in general but I am not going to get into that.  I can leave it for another time when I am ready to throw their backpacks through a window.  Two weeks before Pesach though, their teachers should get it.  They should be encouraging hands on learning.  Each teacher should be assigning the children to help their parents Pesach clean for the allotted time homework is supposed to be taking place (in our case we are supposed to cut them off after 45 mins.).  Homework is supposed to give the kids an extension between the classroom and home.  This is a lesson they will always remember.

So, since my kid's teachers aren't doing this, I am taking matters into my own hands.  I am telling them to put down the homework and its time to learn how to prepare for Pesach.  I will be lining them up and handing out assignments.  They can have their normal 20 mins to snack and breath.  Once its up the chumatz clothes are going on, school clothing is off, and the Maccabeats will be cranked up as loud as my head can tolerate so that we can get busy (love the new CD that came out yesterday!).  My future daughter in laws will thank me one day and my daughters will know that they don't have to be a slave to make Pesach, that its a family effort.  Yeah, their regular homework won't get done for a week.  I think they will get a whole lot more in the long run from this little experiment.