Chores

I've been trying to get the kids into a routine with chores lately, and sometimes it goes really well, and sometimes...not. I've had them doing chores for years, but not always with a chart. I've found that the chart helps a lot. With the start of school, though, our chores have fallen by the wayside as we figure out when we have to leave the house and all that good stuff. And with all the chauffeuring around, my evenings are so busy I forget to give them things to do.

Basically what I do is print up a chart that I made in Word that has all their chores on there. Each chart is good for one week, and has all three kids on there. I hang it in the kitchen, and mark off each chore that's done with a sticker. The kids love it because they get to see how many chores they've done, and it feels like they're working towards a goal instead of just doing something they don't want to be doing.

A couple people asked on Instagram about my chart when I posted about it, so I thought I'd post it here. These are the chores I have my kids do:

Made bed: 25 cents
Clean room: $1-$2
Sweep: $1.50
Clean bonus room: $1
Clean living room: $1
Dust: $1
Empty dishwasher: $1

And there's no certain amount of chores they have to do in a week, I would just like them to make their bed every day (though that never happens!). I pay them on Sunday for everything they did that week, so the more they do, the more money they get. Mila will go above and beyond, and just start cleaning without me asking her to, and Ben...you basically have to pull teeth to get him to do anything. Except when Mila started unloading the dishwasher, which used to be his chore, and he realized he might lose an easy chore, and therefore an easy dollar. Ha ha! She put things in perspective for him real quick! And when I say 'clean' on the chart, I mean pick up toys and put everything away. If all three are cleaning the bonus room, it costs me $3.

My kids are getting old enough to really be able to help me out, which is really nice. When they're little and you have them do a chore, you either have to spend five times the amount of time to do it along with them, or redo it after they're done. Now I'm just waiting for the day they are tall enough to wash dishes and get them in the dishwasher without breaking them. And mow the lawn. While I nap. No, I'm sure I won't be napping, don't worry.

This is what we do, but I would love to hear other ideas and methods you guys use. Are there other chores I could have them do? Is there a better reward system? I know every family is different, and I'd love to hear about it.



xoxo,
Tanya