The other day as I frantically cleaned my house, pending the arrival of several guests, I desperately tried to get my kids to help me. After several FAILED attempts I realized where I had gone wrong. It all goes back to a few years ago. I always cleaned the house when they were down for naps. They never saw the work that went into keeping the house clean, thus they never had to help. Fail on my part, big time! My kids had no accountability for chores and certainly no consequences for not completing chores. This had to change!
Introduction to chore charts. I found this awesome Etsy store, Abbies House, that sold great chore charts and some awesome magnets to boot. My husband I discussed which chores we thought were appropriate and also added some for the future as they got older. We comitted to a purchase and we are in LOVE with these charts! (Just an FYI- Abbies House didn’t ask me to do a review, I am doing it simply because I am so pleased with the quality and the product.)
We all sat down at the dinner table and had a discussion about responsibility and chores. We explained how the charts worked to the kids and we also explained the expectations. Each day they had certain chores that needed to be completed before they were allowed a special privledge. They also had weekly chores on their chart that worked the same way. Plain and simple, do the chores, earn rewards. Don’t do your chores, consequences.
Rewards. I am not really a fan of paying my kids to do something they ought to be doing in the first place. Each family has to do what is right for them and for us B****** Bucks (no I’m not swearing, I’m blocking out my last name)came into play. We had Abbies House send us a pdf file of money with our family name on them “B******” and added bucks to it. These work as “money.” The kids were told that for each buck they earned they would earn extra priveldges and they were also told that these bucks could be taken away with negative behaviors as well.
Things they earn- extra Leap Pad time, an extra cartoon show, an extra treat, special one on one time with mommy or daddy. They could also save up their bucks for REAL money if they chose- every 5 bucks earns them a real dollar.
What sort of things do you do in your home to teach your children that the house is a family job?
I absolutely love your blog. I can relate. I think the chore chart is a great idea, can’t wait to impliment it. Can’t wait to read the rest of your post either!
I am totally with you on the charts! If I didn’t have a chart for each of my kids, I don’t know how I would help guide them to make the right choices! It’s so tough to come up with consequences that match every little decision they make! The problem for me to only have a chore chart is that I would need another one for behavior also! Every parent has behavior issues even with the sweetest of kids! So I had to come up with a chart that would cover ALL issues! You should check out the cool system I came up with years ago for my son! He was and still is a pretty tough kid and this system has TOTALLY changed how I parent him!
here is the link…
http://lifesprinkledwithglitter.blogspot.com/p/behavioral-chart-for-your-2-6-year-old.html
Totally with you. I’ve chronicled my own (similar) failures on my own blog. I’ve evolved my efforts over the summer trying to get them to do chores, but it’s honestly easier to just do the work myself. Not a good lesson, but sometimes I just want things done (right and right now).
Right now we’re using poker chips and plastic wine carafes. Really classy (not!)
Love this idea and the family bucks! Have been wanting to implement something like this for a while now, thanks for the inspriation!
thanks for sharing..