As much as I'd like to take the summer off from housekeeping,
that's just not possible.
And it's up to me to teach my children how to work and take care of our home.
So today in the How to Enjoy Summer series,
(check out meal ideas here and activity ideas here)
I'm talking about chores.
With my kids home all summer, we have more time to devote to
keeping up with everything around the house.
My kids do not want to do chores, naturally.
I do not want to nag them about chores.
In the past, we have had many battles about that subject.
The BEST thing that works for us is planning ahead
(notice that theme here in this summer series)
and having a chore chart.
This is our command center by our back door.
I hung our summer chore chart here.
Looks like the school one is here as well (the one in the top right).
Forgot to take that one down.
Have the chore chart here, where everyone can see it works really well!
Here's how you can make a chore chart for your family.
-Sit down and think about all of the jobs that need to get done inside and outside your home.
Some examples are sweeping the floor, emptying the trash,
dusting, loading the dishwasher, weeding the garden,
wiping down the bathroom, etc.
-Then plan how often the jobs needs to be done.
Our floor needs to be swept and our bathrooms need to be wiped down daily.
Dusting only needs to be done once a week.
Keep in mind things like what day your trash is picked up to
make sure the trash is emptied for then.
-Divide up all of the jobs and assigned them to each of my kids.
I tried to keep the difficulty and time level of each job about even
so my kids wouldn't get upset.
They can spot inequality so quickly.
I made the chart using a table in Open Office.
I put the days of the week along the top and the kids names along the side.
Then I filled in the chores.
I also put dinner duties on our chore chart.
Every day each kid has to either set the table, clear the table or do dishes.
Having everything written on the chart takes all of the emotion out of it for me.
There's no more begging, nagging or guilt tripping my kids into doing their chores.
I just ask them to check their job and do their chores for the day.
There's very little arguing about it.
One more thing, we do not pay our kids to do chores.
We feel that being a part of our family, requires that each of us do our part.
Every now and then, I'll come up with some extra chores and offer
them to my kids so they can earn money.
These are jobs that are above and beyond normal chores, which are still required.
Some examples of this are washing all of the windows, cleaning all of the baseboards,
mowing the lawn in the front and back of our house, etc.
This is the chore system that is working in our house this summer!!
I hope it helps you to make a chore chart so you can ENJOY your summer too!
