Show me what you use at home. I'm contemplating making something to give the boys a visual of things they can help out with around the house, with the goal of them helping with one chore per day for now.
Post by sillygoosegirl on Aug 24, 2019 10:13:56 GMT -5
We have list of daily chores written up on the white board in the dinning room. I drew a small picture next to each to help DD know what they are. We sign up by putting our initials next to the chores we will do.
Current chores on the list are: Make breakfast Make dinner Set table Load dishwasher Clean kitchen Clean living room Pack lunch for school
We've only been doing this a few days. She is pretty excited about signing up for jobs, sometimes somewhat less excited about doing them, but other times excited to do them. Last night she signed up for dinner and made Cheerios though... so... you've been warned. (I am super proud of her for taking the initiative to make dinner though, even though I wasn't thrilled with what we had. She isn't quite 5 yet. When I pressed her to make it more balanced, she did add bell pepper and cold tofu... two more foods I don't like... but she likes them.)
We have list of daily chores written up on the white board in the dinning room. I drew a small picture next to each to help DD know what they are. We sign up by putting our initials next to the chores we will do.
Current chores on the list are: Make breakfast Make dinner Set table Load dishwasher Clean kitchen Clean living room Pack lunch for school
We've only been doing this a few days. She is pretty excited about signing up for jobs, sometimes somewhat less excited about doing them, but other times excited to do them. Last night she signed up for dinner and made Cheerios though... so... you've been warned. (I am super proud of her for taking the initiative to make dinner though, even though I wasn't thrilled with what we had. She isn't quite 5 yet. When I pressed her to make it more balanced, she did add bell pepper and cold tofu... two more foods I don't like... but she likes them.)
This is a very minor thing but I saw it somewhere recently and I really liked it so I thought I’d share -I saw someone refer to it as “family contributions” as opposed to chores. My kids are too young for this right now, but when they’re a little older I hope to use that term because I think it sets the tone better that *everyone* pitches in and contributes to making the family function.
But as for an actual chart, I don’t have that.
I'm glad you shared this. I think calling it Family Contributions makes a lot of sense. That's exactly what I'm going for. This will not be a reward-based system. I think my initial goal is to set up something really simple and visual so they can see that on Monday they help unload the dishwasher, on Saturdays they help bring their clothes downstairs to be washed, etc. These aren't chores; these are the ways that you help out as a member of our household. I'd like them to get to the point where they look at the chart each day and initiate the task themselves without me needing to ask.
Mine are on the younger side too, but there are things they can help with even if they can't do everything on their own.
I remember doing more of a chore wheel rather than a chart. You spun it to get your task for the day.
We had weekly ones to help cleaning: dust, vacuum, mop, toilets, etc.
Daily ones were set the table, clear the table (including loading the dishwasher with dinner plates/silverware/cups), wash the dishes, empty the dish rack. My parents cooked so my sister and I took turns--one of us would usually do the setting and the other the clearing. One would wash the dishes, but before that, the other would empty the dish rack of the nights previous dishes.
I'm glad you shared this. I think calling it Family Contributions makes a lot of sense. That's exactly what I'm going for. This will not be a reward-based system. I think my initial goal is to set up something really simple and visual so they can see that on Monday they help unload the dishwasher, on Saturdays they help bring their clothes downstairs to be washed, etc. These aren't chores; these are the ways that you help out as a member of our household. I'd like them to get to the point where they look at the chart each day and initiate the task themselves without me needing to ask.
Mine are on the younger side too, but there are things they can help with even if they can't do everything on their own.
I can’t remember how old your kids are - mine are 2.75 and 3 months - so right now all I expect is for my 2.75 year old to pick up his toys, carry his plate to the sink after eating, and put his dirty clothes in the hamper.
Something I saw that I have thought about implementing (again, when they’re a little older) is writing up the various tasks like they’re mini job descriptions. I thought that was clever because the mom I know “pays” for work done above and beyond the required contributions (like if each kid should do one task a day, doing an additional one earns them “money”), so the mom that does this conducts “interviews” with her kids and asks them to talk about why they want that task, what makes them think they’d do it well, etc. The kids then commit to the task for a week / few weeks / month, and at the end they do a job review where they get “paid”. The job description includes what it looks like to do an “okay”, “good,” and “great” job and then the mom can give an optional “performance bonus” if the kids really do well. It makes it a learning experience about jobs and commitment and doesn’t just equate tasks with money. So I may implement that when they’re older - but like much older (I’m thinking 8+).
That's cute and fun. They're 2 and 4, so too young to really understand something like that, but I'll keep it in the back of my mind.