About a month ago I decided I needed to make Trinity’s contributions to helping around the house a little more formal. Up until then she helped with many things but had no formal “chores”. I browsed many blogs and articles and saw lots of good ideas but nothing that would work perfectly so this is what I came up with.
This is her chart, it is a combination to do list/chore list. She made it with me, we walked around one morning and took pictures of the things that she needed to do to take responsibility for herself and to contribute to our house and family.
These are the specific chores
Get Dressed, Brush Teeth, Wash Face
Feed and let Rufus out
Pick up Bedroom
Help Set the Table
Help Clear the Table
Pick up Living Room
Put Silverware Away
Put Laundry Away
Get PJs on, Brush Teeth, Wash Face
When she completes these things she uses the little ring stamps hanging from the chart to put a stamp on the incentive chart (the slip with the bear on it). Once the chart is full she gets $3.00.
There are two stipulations. 1. She must do the chores with a good attitude and a smile. I don’t allow her to gripe and complain about the chores, if she does she still has to do the chore but does not get a stamp. 2. She has 10 minutes to get dressed, brush her teeth and wash her face in the morning and then again at bed time. If it takes longer than that she doesn’t get a stamp. She is totally capable of this but she has a tendency to be “Pokey Pink”. This time limit became even more important once we started school, if I let her it could take upwards of 30 minutes because she stops and plays. This seemed like a better solution than standing at the bottom of the stairs nagging her to hurry up every morning.
This was a great way for her to have a little bit of money of her own that she actually earned! She had begun to think that just because we walked into a store she should get something. Now I just ask her if she has enough money to buy something and she remembers that she has money but is saving it for a Strawberry Shortcake doll she wants. This is the other benefit of the $3.00, instead of blowing it on junk at the dollar store she is trying to save it for something nice that she wants.
We also had a lesson on generosity the other day with her chore money. We went shopping at a churches “share day”, a yard sale where everything is free. We went and found several items of clothing for the kids and Trinity found some games and books that she wanted. When we were finished we donated money to the charity that the church was raising money for. I made sure she new that the things were free but we were choosing to donate money to help the people that needed it because we could.
Another great benefit……….
She is teaching Keenan how to do chores with a smile :)!
You would think another benefit would be that it is less for me to do………but really it’s not. She does a great job, she is learning to do a great job. Eventually it will be less for me to do, but for now it takes her longer than it would take me and it isn’t always perfect. But if I continue to do it myself she, and eventually they, will never learn to be responsible for themselves, they will never learn that things aren’t handed to you on a silver platter, they will never appreciate when someone does do something for them. They will never learn responsibility or have the ability to save or learn to be generous with the money they have earned. So it is worth the extra work on my part to help them learn these things.
I found the incentive charts and little stamp rings at the dollar store so this only cost me $2.00 :)!! Bonus!
Wow this seems a little long and rambling but I think there are LOTS of things that she can learn from this little chore chart! What about you? What age appropriate chores do your kids do? What, if anything, do they earn for doing their chores? What are you trying to teach them most by chores? I’d love to hear from you :)
