Wordless Wednesday

Chore Buddies

Years ago when Little Man graduated from the crib, we felt he no longer needed his own room (the nursery) and moved our oldest son in with him. This left the two middle sons sharing a room together. These pairings have worked out very well because the roommates' personalities mesh well together. I am reluctant to switch things up because they are working so well! But we wanted the non-roommates to have more opportunities to learn to mesh well too, so we came up with the idea of chore buddies.

Chore buddies are the non-roommates tasked with a "big" chore ~ in order to accomplish it they have to communicate and work it out together. Sons G and C worked on laying mulch and re-setting paver stones by our front porch. They did a great job!




Doesn't it look fantastic? It would seem even more fantastic if I'd remembered to take a "before" picture! (it was pretty bad, and had been on my to-do list for a long time)


Meanwhile, son L and Little Man worked on cleaning all the panes in our french doors. This is not a job that anyone really wants to do. Not as fun as laying mulch. They had good attitudes, however, and worked well together.


"Here I am stuck with an inside chore on a really nice day!"


"How many panes are there, anyway?"


Ta-da! A job well done!


I think chore buddies are here to stay!

Fall Chores

Update on Chores

I have been a happier homemaker since putting daily chores right on my kids' assignment sheets for school. We don't do them every single day, but by far most days we do. I have had my entryway rugs shook out and the floor swept every Monday for the last 2 months! Our 5 year old son does this job. Are the rugs perfectly clean? No, but they are cleaner than when he started. If any of the dirt gets shaken out, it's an improvement! As Flylady likes to say, "housework done poorly still blesses my family." (my paraphrase)



Between the 7 year old and 8 year old, the toilets, floor around the toilets, and sinks in both bathrooms get wiped down with baby wipes twice each week (and thoroughly cleaned once by me). It is rather amusing to me that the 7 year old has magically gotten better with his aim since having to do this job! Score one more for the chores team!



Our daughter does not enjoy doing the laundry, but she's learning to do it faithfully without complaining, and her attitude is more important to me than the actual laundry.



So, we have yet to conquer the dust, and I am still in charge of most of the piles that multiply throughout the house, but at least we're maintaining our baby steps pretty well. Lord, help us to keep doing "the next thing."

A new twist on chores

God gave me this brainstorm over the weekend (I think I mentioned it last Friday) to add the children's daily chores on to their daily assignment sheets for school. I've had a chore chart on the fridge for as long as I can remember, and if we start school late or something takes longer than planned, chore time is always the first thing to go. If you came to my house, you would be able to tell that this is so. I am pretty relaxed about the dirt, having chosen to spend hours a day teaching my children instead of cleaning!, but I have been very discouraged about my house for several weeks now. I had that sinking feeling that I just couldn't even manage the basics.

Well, that all changed yesterday! Just to put your minds at ease, because I know you're worried about this ;0), I do not ask my children to do anything I am not willing to do myself. Nor do I ask them to do more than I do. But having their consistent help, on their daily assignment sheets, where they have to cross it off every day as part of their regular work, is already making a significant difference in the cleanliness of our home and in my outlook! (and Lord willing in their attitude toward work and their understanding of stewardship)

So far this week, we have had:

2 loads of laundry washed, dried, folded, and put away
the entryway rugs shaken out, and the floor swept
the cats fed and watered
the mouse fed and watered
the dining room and living room swept each day
both bathrooms wiped down with baby wipes (toilets and sinks)
the tub scrubbed with a scrub brush
the family room vacuumed
the dishwasher unloaded

and it's only Tuesday!! And none of the above was done by me!!

So encouraging! I love how God cares about the little things.

Children and chores, part 2 - Personal chores

I have been asked to share more detail about our chores, so here is what we do for "personal" chores. As with so much of parenting, I truly believe it boils down to modeling. When I began to expect my children to make their beds, I had to be sure I was consistently making mine!! And then I had to make their bed many times, with their help, so they would know HOW to do it.

So, starting very young (age 1) I would fold up their pajamas after getting them dressed in the morning and ask them to pull open the drawer so I could put them away. I would fold up their blankie and then give it to them and say, "put this on your bed", then they would lay their pacy on top of the folded blankie. In this way they were beginning to learn how to care for their own personal things.

Then when they are around age 4 they get a checklist to hang in their room. Yay! A checklist! (I'm being slightly facetious here). I sit down with each child and make this together with them. It has both words and pictures on it, since at this age they are not yet reading. It is divided into morning and evening, with a sun beside the morning chores and a moon and stars beside the evening chores. We talk about each item as I draw the corresponding picture. This checklist slides into a page protector and then gets taped up somewhere at eye level in their room.
Here is one of our checklists up close:

This has helped them know what I expect them to do in the morning and evening. After they have become very proficient at completing their checklist on their own, we start working on doing it within a reasonable amount of time. I keep timers in all our children's bedrooms, and for their checklists I usually set it for 10 minutes. The older 2 boys no longer need to look at their checklists to know what to do (and in fact a couple items on their original checklist no longer apply), but I still say, "go do your checklist" and they know what I mean. If the checklist is not completed when the timer dings, some form of punishment follows. Right now it is the taking away of a nickel (remember they get 10 each morning?). I have taken away up to 5 nickels for this offense, depending on the circumstances, and I have to say that most of the time the children are pretty good about completing their checklists thoroughly and quickly.

This has eliminated so much frustration for me, because I don't have to stand there telling them each little thing to do, and the checklist can be the bad guy. If I notice that something on the checklist is not done and the child is already downstairs, I will find them and ask, "do you have the freedom to be downstairs?". This forces them to go upstairs and look for themselves to see what was left undone. Hopefully it is training them to be more OBSERVANT!! (I cannot tell you how many times I have said, "pick up your socks" and they cannot find said socks even though they are practically standing on them!).

This has worked very well for personal chores in our home. I would still love to hear more ideas about what has worked well in yours!