Chores

I am so amazed at how much my children have grown in character from simply having chores to do. Over the summer we started talking about adding more responsibility for Faye and Owen (age 11 and 7) and what that would look like. We let the kids give their input as well. In the past, Faye had a few chores that she did to earn a profit at the end of the week.

 

After a lot of brainstorming, we came up with a plan that we implemented starting in September when school started. These were the goals we had in mind:

 

*Each child should be given a set of chores that is reasonable to complete in a week’s time according to their age and ability.

 

*Training for each chore would be given so that the child would know the expectations.

 

*Chores will be completed by the end of the week in which payment would be made to each child.  The older the child, the more responsibility and the more money can be earned. (our current pay out is $3 for Faye and $1.50 for Owen)

 

*Regular chores should not be confused with offering help with other things as needed: for example: setting and clearing the table, picking up after oneself, etc…

 

Here is a picture of our cards that help us track chores. I came up with this idea, and for now it is working well. For each chore, a card is given. The name of the chore is on the top and below that are a few descriptions of how to do the chore. These are basic reminders since I spent time teaching each chore to the child who had it. (Some of the chores I had to teach and re-teach a couple of times.) On the back of the chore card it says “Done.”. The cards are held on the fridge with a magnet and as they complete the chores each week they turn the cards to “done.”

 

The kids have homework and reading they need to do after school, and then they usually do one chore. It works really well with the cards, as they just check them each day and see what they need to do. It’s going pretty smoothly now and I don’t even need to check up on them. They are learning to manage their time and not leave them all to the last day. I haven’t really dictated one a day as I have really wanted them to think ahead and work at their pace and learn not to procrastinate. The first few weeks were a bit rough. Faye did pretty well since she had been doing chores before this time. She was learning a new set of chores, but that was the only challenge. Owen had a bit more trouble as he had to learn to work before he played. He was so distracted by hearing other kids playing outside and wanting to join them.  There were a few weeks that Owen has had to have a sit down talk with Dad about responsibility. I am really proud of how he has chosen to learn responsibility and have a teachable attitude. I thought it would have taken Owen a bit longer to learn some of these lessons, but he has done really well. There have been a few mornings that I’ve woken up to my son cleaning the toilets as he was still in his pj’s because he just wanted them to be finished!

 

I think it’s important for kids to learn responsibility in the home, first. They must learn it from Mom and Dad and by example more than what is spoken to them. I’ve always thought it unfair and counter-productive to have the kids doing ALL of the chores as they get older. I think that everyone should pull their own weight and practice doing chores that aren’t their favorite. I often hear moms say that they choose which chores their kids should do based on the ones they are tired of doing themselves. I just don’t see how that is a good principle myself, but I do respect the opinions of others and how it works best in their home. I try to work on my own chores right along with the kids so that they know they are not alone. After thanksgiving we will swap cards so that the kids can learn new chores. I hope this helps them learn to be flexible and teach them that chores don’t have to be gender specific.

 

For those of you wondering what chores are appropriate for which ages, I don’t really know. We’ve just guessed and tried out some that we thought were appropriate. We do try to have Faye do more than Owen, and get paid more since she is older. Some of the kids’ cards include things like cleaning toilets, dusting, folding kitchen laundry, Tidy living room, Vacuuming, and keeping the mud room clean.

 

Do your kids do chores? What is your system like? I’d love to know your thoughts.