Chilren's Chore Charts

"Train up child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Proverbs 22:6

I had a request for me to describe how my children do chores.  I never thought of blogging about our daily almost daily chore system (sometimes I just let them off the hook, but I should be more consistent, just so you know).  I thought the request was a wonderful idea!  I strongly believe that part of training up a child is to start them early with responsibilities around the house.  It teaches them life skills, how to not eat the bread of idleness (Prov. 31:27), and I have found that it helps them to appreciate the work that we as mothers do around the house.  (I found this out when I walked into the girls' bathroom and laid a hairbrush on the counter.  My oldest had just finished one of her daily chores, cleaning the bathroom counters.  She looked at me and said, "I just cleaned that off...") 

I am going to describe our chore system.  Maybe this will work for you, maybe you are doing something that works better and can share with the rest of us!  Now, keep in mind that I taught public school for 8 years...so my system is very "classroom-ish".

When I decided to stay home, I had to bring all of my classroom resources home.  When I did I found out just how many pocket charts I had...TONS to be exact!  So, I used one of the pocket charts I had for my "chore chart".  If you are not familiar with a pocket chart, it is a colored fabric backing with clear pockets on the front.  The one I am using is from Learning Resources and they are magnetic, which works great for sticking them on the refridgerator.  I have seen non-magnetic pocket charts on the dollar rack at Target as well. 



My oldest two girls are 3 and 5, so I wanted this to be something they could do independently while I am doing my own chores.  I made 'chore cards' for them.  Since this is a pocket chart and the chores are on cards, they can be alternated  and changed from day to day.  I wanted them to also have pictures on it.  This way, if they can't read what the chore is, they can see the picture to know exactly what to do.

The chore cards are:

• Make Bed
• Girls Bathroom Trash - They have to take the trash bag out, bring it to the kitchen trash, and replace with a clean bag.
• Bathroom Counters - They have to put away anything that has been left out on the counter.  I recently organized their bathroom, so now everything has either a specific drawer or a bin inside a drawer.  After they put everything away, they have to wipe it down with a baby wipe.  When I clean, I use cleaning wipes or spray cleaner, but they aren't allowed to use the strong stuff : )
• Books - They pick up the books off their bedroom floor and put them neatly on the shelf.
• TubToys - They have to go their bathtub and put any tub toys that were left out into the toy net.
• Doll House - They have designated plastic drawers that are labeled with pictures (Crazy, but it helps a lot!) that they are to put all of their doll house dolls and furniture in.
• Baby Dolls - Baby dolls also have their own bin to easily put away.
• Little Bathroom Trash - Same routine as above, just in the half bath.
• Barbies - I keep an old dresser drawer under the bunk beds.  I used paint pens and decorated and labeled it.  They know that all the Barbies and accessories go in this drawer.
• Kitchen Set - I also have plastic drawer with picture labels for all the kitchen set toys.

I have found that if everything has a designated spot it makes it easier for the little ones to put away things. 

Once they complete one chore they go to the chore chart and put a "You Did It!" card over the chore card, which sometimes motivates them to continue...

When all chores are done, they should have "You Did It" cards covering each of the chore cards.

I say should because, yes, I battle with a three year old that some days decides she doesn't want to do chores. 

Recently, I have started a "payment system", which is basically just a reward system.  We use 'Evans Bucks', which came from when I taught. 

They get one 'Evans Buck' for completing chores correctly for the day.  There are days that a little one doesn't get paid because they didn't do the work correctly or couldn't seem to get it done. 

The payment system did not get impletmented at the beginning and the chore chart worked fine.  I thought this would help them understand the questions they so frequently ask, "Why does Daddy have to work?  Why can't he stay home every day with us?"  It has shown them that you have to earn your money.  We let them decide what they would like to work for.  They chose things like frozen yogurt, a movie night, etc.  Then we set an amount for each reward and they have to earn it.

This is how we do chores in our home.  It helps for those little daily chores that need to be done, but sometimes I forget to do (i.e. wiping down the bathroom counters), as well as teaching them responsibilities. 

Feel free to share what you do in your home! 

Tell Us a Story, Mama

My little sweeties

Everyday after lunch at our house, is ALWAYS rest time.  If not for their sakes, for my sanity!  Plus, some days, I just need a nap.  My three year old still takes naps, so she falls asleep every afternoon.  My five year old doesn't fall asleep anymore, but she must have an official "rest time".  She either looks at books or plays her Leapster while the other two sleep.  I try to time it out where the baby will take her afternoon nap when the older two girls take their naps, so I can have some quiet time.

Occasionally, before leaving the girls' room at naptime, they will ask me to tell them a story about when they were little.  So, I will think of a story that will make them laugh from when one of them were smaller.  Yesterday, I decided to make up a fictional story.  I also decided that I would give it a storyline that they could identify with....oh boy...

So, I started...

One day, Baby Bunny wanted to go play in the woods.  So, she asked Mama Bunny.  But Mama Bunny said, "Not today.  I have laundry to do, so I can't watch you if you're outside.  You need to play in your room a little while."  Baby Bunny sadly goes to her room and begins to play.  But then a thought comes to her.  If Mama Bunny is doing laundry she won't notice if Baby Bunny slips out to go play.

I know, I know...how do bunnies even do laundry, right??  Well, at this point they are smiling and gazing at their wonderful storyteller of a mother.

So, Baby Bunny slips out the door and goes to play in the woods.  Meanwhile, Mama Bunny is doing laundry and working in the laundry room when she finds a birthday present for Baby Bunny that she forgot to give her on her birthday.

Yes, this happened at Christmas this year...

Smiling, she walks to Baby Bunny's room, knowing that she will be thrilled with a late birthday present.  When she opens Baby Bunny's bedroom door, Baby Bunny isn't in there.

At this point, the girls' eyes are wide open.  They are thinking, "Baby Bunny is in trouble now!!"

Mama Bunny searches the house everywhere and Baby Bunny is nowhere to be seen!  She starts to cry because she is so worried about Baby Bunny.  Just about that time Baby Bunny comes through the door smiling from all the fun she had outside.  Mama Bunny asks her where she had been.  Baby Bunny tells Mama Bunny that she was outside looking for her shoes.  Mama Bunny told her that she knew she was not telling the truth.  Not only had Baby Bunny been disobedient and gone outside without permission, but she had also lied about where she had been.  Mama Bunny told Baby Bunny that she was in trouble and she also had to give away her new present that she had found. 

I look at my five year old and she is listening very, very intently.  I was so glad she was enjoying the story.

Mama Bunny tells Baby Bunny to go to her room and retrieve the present.  Baby Bunny sadly walks to her room and gets the present that once was hers and brings it to Mama Bunny. 

This time when I look at my five year old, she has tears in her eyes.  Despite the fact that my story wasn't over yet, she jumps up from the floor and runs to my arms sobbing on my shoulder.  When I asked her why she was crying, she said through sobs, "Baby Bunny lost her surprise!!!"  I rubbed her back and tried to soothe her.  I looked at my three year old (for those of you that know my three year old know that this is soooo her personaility) and she was smiling and slightly, ever so slightly, laughing at my five year old (grrr...) 

After I calmed my five year old down, I knew I had to quickly get to a happy ending.  So...

Baby Bunny opens her present and it is a doll.  She gives her doll to a little bunny who didn't have any dolls.  Then one whole year later, at her next birthday party, Mama Bunny comes out with a present and tells her to close her eyes.  When Baby Bunny opens them, she rips open the present and it is a brand-new babydoll!  Better than the other one!!  Everyone at the party cheered and cheered!

This brought a teary smile on my five year old's face!  At last, I had turn the situation around...or so I thought. 

I have to tell you that I am a stickler on my girls getting up from bed.  I keep a digital clock in their bedroom, and they cannot get up in the morning until the hour reads 7 and they cannot get up from naptime until the hour reads 3.  This has also helped my three year old with numbers and taught my five year old that there are '59 minute until there's a new hour'.  Someone stares at that clock...

Well...a few minutes before it was time for them to get up I hear a little girl crying in the back.  I walk back to their room and there she is, crying again.  When asked what was wrong, she said, "I'm sad about Baby Bunny!"  She then asked if I would tell her a story about Baby Pony and not make it like the Baby Bunny story.  I felt horrible!

This went on all evening.  At the supper table, she told her daddy all about Baby Bunny.  She asked again about the Baby Pony story.  I could not send them to bed that night without telling a new story about Baby Pony.  So, I made up a new story with Baby Pony as the main character and it was all happiness!!  There was no problem, therefore, no solution, therefore, no climax to this story.  However, it made my sweet girl smile and that was ok : )

Hope my blunder makes you smile! 

Laundry...Loads of Fun!

Welcome back, everyone!  So, I have been on an organization frenzy!!  I intend to post more about this obsession soon.  However, today I wanted to share my new laundry system.  I cannot take credit for this.  Since I have become obsessed with organization, I have been reading organizational blog after organizational blog getting ideas.  I stumbled upon "I'm an Organizing Junkie" and found this laundry idea.

Before I read this, my laundry system went a little something like this.  I had one general laundry basket that was kept on the girls' side of the house in their bathroom.  All of their clothes, towels, etc. went in there.  I kept one basket in my bedroom/bathroom for mine and my husband's belongings.  Everything else (dishtowels, blankets, sheets, etc.) got thrown on the laundry room floor until I could get to them.  Inevitably, what ended up happening was I would get so overwhelmed because I was trying to wash, dry, fold, and put away all the laundry in the house in one day.  If I didn't, I felt like it was out of control, which it usually was.  Maybe you can identify with me here. 

I just happened to be aimlessly searching organizational blogs when I saw her laundry system.  I decided to give it a try.  I have a link to hers above, but I will tell you what I did, basically the same.  I gave each person their own laundry basket and labeled them with their names to be kept in their bedrooms.  I then labeled the one in the bathrooms "Towels". 

From there, I assigned everyone a day of the week in which their laundry would be done.  Which, of course, I typed up real cute, put in a picture frame, and hung in the laundry room : ) 

My schedule is as follows:

Sunday:  Rest

Monday:  My husband's clothes and sheets

Tuesday:  My clothes and all towels

Wednesday:  1st Child

Thursday:  2nd Child

Friday:  3rd Child

Saturday:  Miscellaneous

Now, you may be thinking what I was thinking...that you never have an empty laundry basket and you are never actually "caught up" on your laundry.  And you're completely right...

Except I was never really caught up on my laundry anyway.  So, now it's just "organized chaos"!  How I have ran this show for the past week is simple.  On Monday, I gather my husbands basket and carry it to the laundry room.  I run his clothes through, dry them, fold them (no sorting I may add, they're all his clothes!), and put them away.  While his clothes are in the dryer, I pull off the sheets and start those in the washing machine.  When the sheets are done, I'm done for the day.

Tuesday, I do the same routine with my clothes and all the towels.  Let me say again, folding and putting away is now so simple because the clothes are already sorted. 

Wednesday, I get the laundry basket from the assigned child, wash, and dry and hand the basket of UNFOLDED clothes to that child.  That child is responsible for folding and putting them away.  If you have younger children, it will take practice.  My three year old was able to quickly fold her own clothes and put them away.  They weren't folded exactly how I like them, but 1) it was one less thing for me to do, and 2) if I fold them and put them away, they will become unfolded anyway when they are digging for clothes to get dressed, therefore, becoming unfolded again...(I'm sure you can relate to this as well)

Thursday and Friday go the same as Wednesday.  Except, I do not make my 9 month old fold her clothes.  I tried, she couldn't do it : )  So, one of the lucky older girls gets to fold the baby's.  This week it was the one that needed more practice.

Saturday is for anything that just needs washing before Monday, like making sure my husband has clothes for work.  Or something that is needed for church on Sunday.

Something that was also helpful for me was I am now keeping a small wicker basket just inside the laundry room.  If I get a dirty dishtowel, I throw it in there, as opposed to on the floor, and wash any dirty ones that are in the basket on the next load.

I have only done this schedule for the past week, but I can tell you that it was so less overwhelming!  If you are feeling overwhelmed by your laundry, this may help!  Less time on laundry, is more time spent loving your family!