LOL! Around here it is called Poop Patrol!:lol: Getting Ems to do chores is very easy. She likes to help. I think it is because she enjoys being with me. So if I vaccum, she dusts, or I dust and she vacuums. I usually wash laundry. Handsome helps with this as well. Ems puts her own stuff away. In the past, I fold it for her but she does it on her own now. But we do it together. I do mine and she does hers. It gets done faster this way. Usually Handsome empties the trash out before work. If not, I do it. Ems has to clean up the living room when she is done playing. Right now, she enjoys washing dishes. I still wash them the most. We do not pay for chores. We all live in this house and we all will take care of it. We have been giving Ems $1.00 a week for allowence. Some people think this is little but I think it is a great way for her to learn to save and appreciate what she is purchasing. If she really wants something, she can do extras to help out. But her sisters usually purchase things for her or give her money when they visit. So she isn't without. Her grandma just sent her $20.00 for Valentine's and she bought a toy that was $22.00. We payed the difference for her. As she gets older, we will increase her allowance, but I am afraid that if I give her too much at once, she will not learn to save for what she really wants.
Oh I forgot to say that when my kids get their allowance they tithe 10%. We want to teach that to them early. They also put 10% in the savings (usually more than 10%). The rest they are able to do what they want with. Currently my ds is saving to buy a bicycle.
Lee, I think tithing a great thing to teach our children. :angel: Ems has to tithe as well. That is awesome.
All my kids have regular chores. We do not pay them for chores. As others have said, chores is part of being a family and growing up learning to be a well-rounded adult. And you don't get paid for doing chores when you're the mom or dad! We pay our kids an allowance each month. It's something they get because they are a part of the family, not based on anything else. PATTY, we've been accused of being cheapskates as well! :lol: We give our kids their age in dollars each month. So my 10yo gets $10/month, etc. My dh will get the money from the bank, and bring it home. He fgives each of the kids their allowance and a tithe envelope. They fill out the amounts for the tithe (sometimes they give MORE than 10%), and offerings (they can choose how much to give--usually about 5%) and total it up and give the envelope back to dad. They've always saved 50%. That seems like a lot when they get so little. But we felt it teaches them good values--tithing and saving is important! They have done this since they were little, so it's habit now---which is what we were hoping for! Plus, we provide much of what they need at this point, so they don't need lots of extras. We call it poop patrol too, Patty! They don't care for it, but really, with chores, even the poop patrol, they've done it since they can remember, so it's just part of what they do! They very rarely complain about having to do chores. In fact, it's been a long time since I've heard any complaining. I think that what some of you mentioned is also very important---the parent(s) working alongside the kids. I do that as well. We'd been very busy for the last couple of months, so had been doing more cosmetic cleaning. The bathroom hadn't been cleaned really well for awhile, so that was our big project this past Friday. We all worked at different things to get it done. That's another thing, when you do it by yourself, it's gets "boring". But when you work together you can talk and laugh and have more fun! ONE MORE THING: When my kids were little, I was tempted many times to "just do it myself", because I could do it way better and way faster than when they were "helping"!!! But I stuck with letting them help with all the chores, because they NEED to learn how to do it themselves! If I do everything, or lots of things for them all the time, then they won't be prepared when they go out on their own. If you start them young, they grow up with it and it's natural for them to do those things.
DD is a big help. She likes cleaning. The boys on the other hand act like they are just going to die when we have them do chores!! They do the normal stuff like pick up and take out the trash. The boys like to vacuum and mop floors. They just hate picking up after themselves! We don't have set chores around here. If mom says to do something, they usually just do it. But I don't overload them with chores, they're kids.
My take is that if kids can sit for 2 hours playing computer or other games, they can certainly spend 15-30 minutes a day doing chores! I like the discipline it gives them, and don't think it's overloading them at all! Like choosing curriculum or whether to homeschool or not, or whether to give allowances or not, people can choose how they deal with chores! It'll work out, and I love that we can all choose what's best for our families! :love:
I am new to vbulletin format so I am hoping I am doing this right... Raine, just turned 10 this month. unloads and reloads the dishwasher daily clears kitchen counters daily feeds both dogs daily walks the big dog daily tidies his room daily vacuums the stairs and hallways every few days those are his major chores, he does other things when asked, and on big cleaning days will clean along side me. Leif, 7 Leif has auditory processing disorder and needs visual cues, so I try to keep his chores the same as often as possible. He has visual charts that he follows daily to do this. Every day he tidies his room incl. making his bed cleans the bathroom sinks and picks up the bathroom floors picks up the stairs picks everything up off of the floors on the main floor (kitchen, dining room, living room and front hall) On big cleaning days he helps dust (as my older son is very allergic) and he washes walls...as it is HIS hand and foot prints we are usually cleaning. My stepsons are here only fri-sun and holidays. While they don't have daily chores here, they have weekly chores. At 14/almost 17 they do their own laundry, keep their room, clean bathrooms (one each per weekend...keep in mind I am still doing the heavy cleaning in there, but they do toilets, floors, mirrors etc), help cook meals etc. Basically if I need it done and ask, they will do it. They are both extremely amicable. They both also babysit their brothers if asked. We don't keep a chart, but our chores are daily or weekly and because there are 6 of us, if they don't get done, you notice quickly. They are not rewarded. We are a family, and as such, everyone pulls their share. I also feel like I left home without a good grasp of how to run a household and won't allow my kids to leave home without a pretty good idea of how to run a house top to bottom. As for how they are punished for not finishing. Hm. There are days that they are slower, or don't get something done and most of the time I don't sweat it. If I want it done, I make sure that they complete it in a reasonable time frame, even if that means I do it along side them or micromanage them ("Now pick your shirts up. Now fold them. Now put them away"). I expect there are days that they will do better and days they do worse, just as I do...so I will sometimes let things slide. If I do have to be on them constantly and even with my help they refuse to do it, they can either go to their room until they are ready to start and if THAT doesn't work, they lose an activity. Thankfully, this doesn't happen often.
I forgot to add that a lot of the chores my kids do are outside at the barn. We have farm animals that have to be taken care of and horse stalls that have to be cleaned out everday, hay to be loaded and unloaded, feed, water buckets. My kids aren't the type to sit and watch cartoons for hours or play video games, I'm thankful they love to be outside building little race tracks and pushing their trucks around. They are typical farm kids.
Yes, my kids do chores. No, they do not get paid for doing their part to keep things up and running around here. Yes, they must do chores or no freedoms.
we have made chores a game. we have 10 minute chores and 10 minute bedroom checks twice a day. I know, I know, 10 minutes that's it. I set the timer after breakfast and after dinner for chores 10 minutes, each child has a series of chore ages 7 and 10 that they must accomplish in this time. I think they each have six chores but it might be five. They range from little things like putting the towels in the linen closet to feeding the pets. okay little things that wouldn't take me long to do but thats besides the point. believe it or not, it actually works, the kids get a sense of accomplishment and I'm not stuck wasting time wondering if the animals were feed. For bedroom checks morning is different than night, I will see if I can locate the website, that I found with the information on it. We use the point system for rewards. They have set goal levels and can chose their awards as they want "cashing in their points" they have goal levels of 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000. 1000 points meaning a slumber party with their friends. 50 points means getting to stay up half an hour later on a school night. They seem to cash in on this one alot. The number of points they receive depends on the chore and how well done it is. We keep a chart so they can visually see how many points they have. Then the math lesson, they figure out nightly how many more points they need to reach their goal. We save bigger things like vacumming and dusting for when we have more time, but so long as I can see their bedroom floors before they go to bed, I'm usually a happy camper.
My two oldest ages 11 and 10 take turns between kitchen duty and trash/pick up livingroom/bathroom duty. They take turns doing the two jobs. One week one has kitchen and the other has the rest. The kitchen is not as bad as it sounds. I clean as I cook so it's not a big huge mess... They Wash off counters,washing/drying/putting away dishes and sweeping the floor. The other one takes out the trash in the morning, picks up the livingroom and vacuums the floor and wipes down the counters in the bathroom and picks up anything on the floor. My 7 year old clears off the dining room table and picks up stuff off the floor and she feeds the dogs. We will be giving her some other stuff soon. My 4 year old helps do whatever I ask her to. Usually dusting or helping fold washcloths. They only do these chores after supper.As long as they clean up their messes, I take care of the house for the most part during the day. If they don't do their chore for that night I will tack on something extra like helping me hang/fold laundry the next day. If they STILL don't do their chores like they are supposed to I tack on an extra week and they have their regular scheduled chores PLUS the last weeks chore. This happens VERY seldom because they don't like the extra work.
My boys chore charts looks like this My Responsibility Chart taking care of myself: take a shower daily, brush teeth 2x a day, brush hair Taking care of my things: put clothes away, make bed, keep room tidy, pick up after myself Helping out the family: this varies by each kids..together it says: empty dishwasher, take out trash, clean off or set table, empty dyer, wash bathroom sinks, vacuum rugs and stairs, and/or sweep dining room. I also do flylady and they help me out with the weekly zone. The job is usually only a quick 5 minute one like washing a window in the room we are working on or dusting a shelf.
