Today’s Post is from Angie
Technology can often be seen as the very antithesis of traditional homemaking. It can be easy to let technology take over our lives, as we may spend too much time on something like social media and then have to rush around at 6 pm trying to throw together a quick dinner. Not only does this take away from what we can accomplish in our household tasks, but it also teaches our children, through modeling, that this is acceptable.
Now, with all of that said, I will admit that I’m a big fan of technology. Over the past several years, this has become especially apparent to me as I have found that amongst many of my local friends, I am seen as being at the cutting edge of technology. (Mind you, this always amuses me to no end.) Because of my love of technology, I am here today to share the ways that you can use technology to your benefit (not just a “time waster”) while teaching your daughters to learn and improve on their domestic skills.
There’s an App for That
One thing that was surprising to me about having gadgets that use apps (such as the iPhone or iPad) was how many great apps there are to help with household tasks. If your daughter is techie or has her own device that uses apps, some of these can be a great way to show her how to organize a future household or just help with your own household. I also think that it’s a wonderful chance to model this organized behavior if you are using these types of apps yourself.
Some of my favorite apps (for the iPad and iPhone) for organizing household tasks include:
2Do – An electronic version of your to do list. This can, of course, include both home tasks and completely unrelated items.
52 Organizing Missions – An app that includes “52 Organizing Missions,” this app can help your daughter to get an overview of all of the major tasks that can sometimes be forgotten or just things that are normally done but can be streamlined. A great activity may be to tackle one of these tasks each week with your daughter. You will get help in the task, and she’ll learn more about household management.
Motivated Moms – This app is based on the popular Motivated Moms Planner (printable). Using this electronic check list each day with your daughter can be a great training grounds for household management and homemaking skills. You may come across tasks from time to time that you might have never thought to teach your daughter about homemaking. This makes for a perfect teachable moment.
Big Fork Little Fork – I love this free app from Kraft. It’s a perfect teaching tool, as there are lots of kid friendly recipes that are designed for you to prepare alongside your child. There are facts about food, games, and even videos to show how to make many of the recipes. This is a perfect app for working in the kitchen with your daughter. (This app is only for the iPad.)
AllRecipes – Another free app that provides you and your daughter with great recipe ideas. You can search for certain recipes by name, ingredients included, time, method, and so on. This can be a wonderful springboard for training in the kitchen.
Tutorials are Just a Click Away
Technology has revolutionized the way that people learn. It no longer means that your only ways to learn new skills are from books or classes. There are so many great video tutorials on the Internet, especially on You Tube. This can mean that if your daughter wants to learn a skill that you aren’t so sure about yourself, you can look up a tutorial and work through it together, side-by-side, with your daughter.
I will caution, however, that any You Tube video should be watched in its entirety by you (alone) before showing it to your daughter. I may be overly cautious in this, but I don’t think so.
Some great examples of tutorials that can help with homemaking skills (if you are proficient with these skills enough to teach them yourself):
How to Knit – The Basics
This is, of course, just a tiny sampling of the homemaking related tutorial that you can find online. Just do a search, preview the material, and then share it with your daughter.
Move Over Cookbooks, Hello Blogs and Websites
While I have lots of cookbooks, I have found that in the last few years, many of my favorite recipes are ones that I have found on recipe sites and on blogs. A fabulous activity to do with your daughter could be to compile her own cookbook binder with print outs of favorites found online. You can also help her to infuse favorite family recipes into this binder as well.
This kind of binder can be a treasure that she will take with her when she leaves home. I know that although I have a shelf full of cookbooks, the one that I reach for more than 75% of the time is the binder that I have put together myself that includes recipes from online, old family recipes scanned from my Mom’s house, and recipes from places like magazines and newspapers. If I could only keep one recipe “book,” this would definitely be the one.
Print Out Check Lists or Make Your Own
The computer is the perfect training grounds for your daughter to learn about an organized home. You can not only teach her to use resources such as downloadable print outs from online (such as the wonderful variety of forms that Simple Mom has on her site), but you can also guide your daughter in making her own check lists through things like word processing or spreadsheet programs.
Technology: Friend or Foe?
With the influx of more and more technology seeping into our everyday lives, I hope that you might find some ways to show your daughters that technology isn’t just about Angry Birds, Facebook status updates, and rabbit trails leading us all along the information superhighway. Technology can be used to become better and more organized homemakers, both presently and in the future.
This post contains affiliate links.
When Angie isn’t busy playing Words with Friends, she can be found writing about faith, family, and household management (and her love of iGadgets) at Many Little Blessings. She is also the founder of The Homeschool Classroom and Catholic Mothers Online. She tries to let her creative side out at Just a Tiny Owl and Tiny Owl LLC.
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dido says
wow…. i have just got my i phone… didnt know about it…
i think that if the media is a way of bonding with the child and have the ability to teach it is very useful . i have to teach my self a better house hold maybe it could be good for me first… thanks!
Angie @ Many Little Blessings says
I really love my iPhone — hope you are enjoying yours. I put off getting one for so long, but when I finally got it, I loved it! (At that point, I already had an iPod Touch and an iPad.)
Homegrown Mom says
Thanks for sharing this, Angie! I hope some of these apps are on Blackberry, too. If not, then I have one more reason to spring for an iPad!
Angie @ Many Little Blessings says
I’m not sure what the app availability is for the Blackberry. But, you know — the iPad is pretty fun. 😉
Anna says
I love the personalized cookbook idea. I’m a young homemaker and I really want to do this for myself even now.
Angie @ Many Little Blessings says
My recipe binder is one of my favorite things in my kitchen. It didn’t really take a ton of time to organize, and as I get new recipes, I’m able to easily add them in. It’s definitely my go-to cookbook.
Mary says
Angie, I love all of these suggestions. We use the iPad a lot, especially in the kitchen. It seems like we always pull up our recipes on Allrecipes, or look up ingredient substitutions, etc… I need to look into some of these other apps, too!
Angie @ Many Little Blessings says
It’s fun using the iPad in the kitchen, huh? Well, except I do worry sometimes that I might get something on it. That would really stink! 😉
Nony (A Slob Comes Clean) says
I’m going to use a lot of these for ME!
Angie @ Many Little Blessings says
Glad it was helpful! 🙂
Sharon Fielding says
The Motivated Moms interesting. I do have a habit of being forgetting, but saying that I like to do my jobs on the fly.
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