How Do You Do Home Projects When Your Children Are Young?

When my children were little, I did my own projects after they had gone to bed. Yes, there were late nights!

But I can remember one summer when my husband painted the back fence. He gave each child a little bucket and a brush, and let them go at the lower areas. The buckets were filled with water. The kids had a blast.

We sold our first house when my kids were 4, 2 and about 6 months. We did a ton small (mostly cosmetic) home improvements before putting it on the market. This is what we did.

1. Hire a young mother's helper to be there with the kids while I painted upstairs.

2. Work after they were in bed... I painted our entire basement between the hours of 8 p.m. and 1 a.m.

3. Tag team on the weekend - one parent takes kids to the park, zoo, etc. for several hours - other parent works furiously to get somethings done.

4. Hire it out. We hired a painter to scrape and paint the exterior trim of our home... and hired a handyman friend of ours to help with some exterior and interior woodwork type stuff that needed to be done.

Last summer we built a new garden at our new home, my husband and I built a fence around it.. the kids just played in the yard while we did it... and we kept an eye on them.

So far they haven't helped much with home improvement... but I'm hoping my oldest (who will be 7 this month) will be into helping some this summer as I plan out a few projects.

J.

at those ages I would send them to grandmas lol. no not really. when our boys were 5 and 6 I was pregnant with son number 3. We had a huge old house that had lathe and plaster walls. we let the boys pound out the wall with hammers (put them at separate ends of the room but they kept working themselves back together lol.) they were more work than they were help but they loved doing it. when we bought the most recent house we let the grandkids paint a mural on the basement wall. not really paint it is chalk lol my mom was horrified. why would I let them do that. the simple answer is because it kept them busy while we were doing other stuff. the real answer is because they love knowing when they come over they can pull out the chalk and keep working on it. every time they come over they do. and so do any and all kids who come over. I now have a long concrete wall in basement with an ocean, sand, a light house and starfish and underwater sea creatures and fish and ........ it just keeps going. we don't entertain in the basement. it has a playroom and a laundry room. but friends love to go down and ooh and aahhh over it. it is something my grandchildren will remember for ever. why would I not? my mom still doesn't understand lol...

I wouldn't even attempt it. At that age I had them outside helping or straightening the garage etc. Mine are 10 and 11 and I still wouldn't let them paint a door. Maybe it's just my kids though....

Home improvement projects are pretty low on our priority list since we had my daughter 12 years ago. I've painted small rooms like the bathroom by myself a couple of times when she's been at school. Last summer, we decided to paint her room and she and I did the entire project in one day (I have back issues so it sometimes takes me a week to do what others might do in a day or two). The BEST part about waiting until she was this old was that she was a REAL help. She actually taped up all the woodwork in the room - & there was lots of it. She also cut in all the paint around the woodwork, doors, window, etc. All I had to do was paint the walls and cut in the ceiling. She has a tremendous amount of patience so she really helped me stay focused and get it done. I would say I'd have to wait a while if I had children the ages you do.

you may already know this. but if your doing home improvement like remodeling, it can be dangerous to have kids around. if its an older house this poses a threat because even if you have painted in the most recent years, the paint from when the house was built or from years ago when they still had lead in the paint, gets all over the house in the form of dust. if your little ones ingest it it can be very dangerous.

I have boys similar ages, and my husband is so patient with them during projects - I'm really glad one of their parents is ;) Generally, he has whoever wants to help with him holding, looking, ect and I keep the rest out of his way. Normally, "helping" doesn't last too long b/c they get bored.

Yikes! I would never let my kids help paint the walls! They don't get to paint unless it's washable. We do the projects during the weekend when one of us can be 100% responsible for them (and keeping them away from the project at hand). That gives the one working on the project the time needed to get it done well. I'm thinking of all the painting I've done in this house....

We do let them help if there is some sort of assembly required. I just bought a little bookcase from my son's room and last night the kids "helped" by handing me the screws or holding the shelves in place or using the screwdriver to tighten the screws.

I guess we just let them help within reason, and once their "help" starts to hinder the project or it gets dangerous the other parent kicks in and keeps them at bay. They are pretty good at cooperating because they want to keep helping.

One of my nieces just had her 3 year old with a roller helping to paint a bedroom. He's a very 'adult' type child and the only one so he was able to 'help' some. I used to let our kids help with somethings but I wasn't as patient as I could have been and we never did a home-improvement but we did move and they helped unpack, etc. One time we all painted the outside of our house and they all helped from 18 to 3 years old. It was a fun time for all of us. I'd say if they don't just goof off and help let them try. Maybe 2 years old is a bit young to do too much. The 7 year old should be able to enjoy helping with whatever you can give him.

HA! YOU DON'T!!!!

I'm laughing because I can totally relate to your question. Unfortunately, I think there is a period in our lives where not a lot of projects take place. Unless, of course, you pay someone. But, even that can be stressful.

well, make them a part of the process. Last year, we constructed on-site & installed an island for our kitchen. My daycare kids had a blast! They loved climbing in/out of the framework, they loved picking up & handing tools to my DH, & they were also respectful when it came to staying back when needed.

With my own sons, they have always been familiar with tools. They have a high-comfort zone when it comes to using them safely. All it takes is some patience in teaching proper usage & respect for the dangers. & both of my sons were painting before school age....not well & really making a mess...but they always enjoyed helping. :)

No, no home improvement. We tackle necessary repairs and that's it. I attempted to paint our family room almost 5 years ago. There are still two sections where we need to move heavy furniture that are not painted. It's a running joke when we have company.

When we moved from our old house, our oldest kids were 8 and that was a good age to have them wash the walls and woodwork when we were prepping to paint, and they were able to use a paint roller on some sections and do things like hand us tools or hold things. But other than that, they are too easily distracted and move around to much to be of much use, and they used to be prone to touching wet paint, picking up something sharp, etc.

I would plan any projects as solo projects where one adult works and another watches the kids, and then let the two older ones assist for a few minutes here and there when it's safe to do so. It's great for kids to grow up learning how to do these things, but to count on them to actually help and not be in the way, you really have to wait until they're at least 10 and even then, they get bored and whiny pretty quickly.

The ONLY way is if my parent come stay a week and my dad helps me. Otherwise I don't start them because I know I can't finish.

Sometimes mine help, sometimes they don't.

When they don't, I set up a childcare trade with a girlfriend. I'll take her kids for a day and she'll take mine a different day. The kids get to play and we get a chance to relax, catch up on our work, or do an outside project.

Or I do it while my husband is home and he'll hang out with them.

Otherwise, they hang out with me and do age appropriate tasks. This morning, for example, I scraped paint off a cast iron tub. One sat on the toilet while the other hoped around in the door way. It was fun, they were rooting for me and proud when I finished. I didn't let them help because I was using a razor tool (they are three and four and don't have much experience with knives).

A few weekends back I hung new trim in our bedroom. I had the kids pass me up tools and finishing nails. They were actually a GREAT help.

I wouldn't have mine help me with painting unless I were able to have them take turns. I don't think I could keep them both on task enough to not make a mess. Although, I'd have them help with an outside painting job I think (never happened, so I don't know for sure).

Good luck and happy painting!

Well I'm taking the boys and heading to grandma's for the weekend so my hubby can do some last minutes stuff before #3 comes. I think my FIL might be coming and staying the weekend to help tag team with him, but this is usually how it works for us.

I generally don't mind because I tend to get a 'break' from the kids even tho' I have them for the whole weekend by myself. Being 32 weeks pregnant this time, it might be more of an inconvenience--I'm not looking forward to sleeping in another bed, and trying to get up quietly etc etc to use the bathroom all night long. At this point we really don't have another option. I'm just praying he stays focus enough to get all done.