I'm a firm beleiver in letting your children grow.  Now that doesn't mean make them grow up fast.  Rather it means take pride in seeing them learn and grow.

I absolutely love babies.  I'm a mom who would possibly have 100 if I could.  My job allows me to get my baby fix by photographing newborns,  so this helps me.  My husband is probably thankful as I would probably have way too many children of my own.   I love that newborn smell, I love the brand new baby cuddles, and the cute baby clothes.  Cherish those moments as they do go too fast.  Please however let them grow.

I feel like sometimes families and parents struggle because they don't have expectations of their children.  I see mom's still feeding their children by spoon at a year.  STOP!!  Hand them a spoon at 6 months and let them learn.  Yes it will be messy.  Yes you will have to clean up what looks like a food fight.  However, let them learn.

I get stopped and praised all the time because of my children, they do make me a very proud mama.  They seem very mature and grown up for their age.  My son was potty trained by 2, and my daughter was only 14 months.  Honestly, I believe it was because I expected it from them.  Instead of saying "oh it's so much work and so much easier to just throw them in a diaper right now" I made the choice to stay home for a few days and keep them naked and teach them.  They both went from diapers to underwear with no issues, even no pull ups at night.  I see some 4 year olds struggling to potty train. Yes it takes work.  It's not just easy.  However having expectations of your children is a good thing.

My son is 6 now.  He has been helping me clean the house since he was 1.  He now knows what it takes to keep a home under control.  I can also trust him.  I have sent him outside to shovel or rake leaves and he happily does these chores.  He helps me grocery shop and has since he was 4.  He checks off the list.  Many people are shocked while we are grocery shopping and at the age of 4 he's using an app to check off groceries.  He says "mom how do you spell celery is it with an s or a c"  BANG! Language arts done for the day!

Teaching your kids to clean up after they are done with a toy is HUGE.  Mom's the amount of time spent in a day cleaning up after kids can be insane.  My daughter learned this at Christmas this year.  After each present she unwrapped she began to learn we needed to recycle the paper.  Now if she opens or takes something out of the package she puts the garbage in the garbage.  She will go to her book shelf and grab a book to read for her reading nook, and,  when she is done with it, take it back and grabs a new one.  The reason she does this is because I expect it of her.  Yes I could still treat her as a baby and pick up after her or I could take pride in watching her grow and learn.  I would rather do that.

My son enjoys having his friends over.  They usually play in his room with lego, and blanket forts are everywhere.  He lives in the moment and plays and has a ton of fun.  However when his friends go home he does find comfort in taking the time to clean his room and get it back in order.  He's like me, he wants order especially before sleeping.

• Dishes - yes they may not be perfect.  However most kids love playing in the water.  So while you are cleaning up let them learn to clean the dishes in the sink.  Yes you will have to help them however its a great way for them to learn while playing.
• Empty the dishwasher - I take a moment to remove any sharp knives or anything really break able but this is something my one year old helps with.  My son does the higher stuff and she likes to do the cuttlery because she can reach it.
• Dusting - hand them a swiffer and let them go to town.  My son started doing this at a year and did baseboards and anything low.  It was fun for him to see how much dust he could pick up.
• Laundry - I started early to make sure they always put dirty laundry in their hampers.  My daughter gets undressed getting ready for a bath and doesn't leave her clothes on the floor in the bathroom she takes them right to her laundry hamper.  This is something so simple but one less step for me.  She also likes pushing the buttons on the washer and dryer (which are up high so I lift her up to do this) I now can send my son to throw a load of laundry in all by himself.