A couple of months ago, after a lot of prayer, I remembered my "Side-tracked Home Executives" and wondered if that could help my children.
The result? Chore List Bingo!!!
Well, it still isn't perfect, and we still have a LONG way to go, but my new chore list is a BIG improvement. Enacted about two months ago, the boys seem to really get it and I'm happy that my kitchen floor is swept everyday.
Here's what I did...
1) I wrote out all -- and I mean ALL -- of the chores that need to be done each week. I can't stress enough here to include each and every task. If someone needs to fill the sippy cup in the morning, write it down. If someone needs to find the tv remote, write it down. For us, taking the dogs out got three entries, "Taking the dogs out Morning", "Taking the dogs out Afternoon" and "Taking the dogs out Evening." We have a small leak in our left kitchen sink and a faithful bucket sits beneath it until we can get it fixed, so our list has "Empty the bucket under the sink."
In our house, there are three types of chores: Chores associated with cleaning your own room; Chores you're responsible for each day as part of the household; and Chores that are "above and beyond" -- these are chores that they can take on for extra pay or rewards (or voluntary penance). The chore list just included the ones that are not paid, but are done as being part of the household.
2) I formed a table in Microsoft Word that had the chore list down the first column, and then columns for each day of the week. I grayed out boxes that were chores that weren't done on that day. For example, we're out all day on Sundays, so the only chores that get done are for the pets. All the other boxes got grayed out. The trash only gets taken to the curb on Wednesday night, so all the other days for "Take the trash to the curb" are grayed out.
3) I added their name to the household chores (their laundry) that they are responsible for by default. Here's what it looked like at this point:
4) Then I brought the boys in, Timmy, age 15, and Max, age 12. Though they already knew of our home's three groups of chores, I explained it again. We had corrupted into paying for a lot of chores without a lot of quality. I believe that while "real" life involves doing a job and getting paid for it, I also believe that A) you still must do a good job with it and B) you still have responsibilities at home. If daily chores do nothing else, it is to teach these concepts.
Because they had devolved into such sloppy work and just focused on getting paid, they are on probation. During this probation, there are VERY few paid jobs. We felt the boys needed to remember that everyone in the home contributes. When we finalize our "menu" of paid jobs, I'll post that as well. That will be a list of jobs that -- AFTER SCHOOLWORK, CHORES AND ROOM -- they can do to earn extra money.
5) Then we began. The oldest got to go first and picked a chore to put his name in. I am pretty sure he chose "Get the mail." The younger didn't realize at first that he should pick easy jobs as much as he was simply staying away from jobs he hated to do. It didn't take long for them to figure these things out.
It did get kind of funny, like a board game. They realized that some jobs almost do themselves. When we get home on Sunday night or Wednesday night from church, the dogs come outside with us as we take things in. Job done. I was proud of how strategic they were thinking.
6) Finally, the entire list was filled in. There were some groans as we got to those last few items that are truly the most horrible, like "scoop the cat litter." But, they each saw the other take jobs that they didn't want, so, for them, there was no question that this was fair.
Like I said, so far, it is going well. I was just so super-impressed with my boys when my father had a heart attack on January 18th. Barely into our new system, the boys kept their chores each day with very little from me as I was at the hospital each day.
I'm also impressed with what they've learned about working as a team. Like everyone, we have days where we're out for the day and very few chores get done. They know that the pets must always be provided for, and thus those chores are never overlooked. But, they have also seen very clearly that if the kitchen doesn't get swept each day, the next day it's going to be a harder job. I can't tell you how giddy it makes me when I tell them "we're so busy that we'll have to bypass some chores today" and they are sad! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
I still have to remind them to do their chores from time to time -- they're children after all! -- but WOW! has this made it so much more manageable.
I'll have to post another update in six months or so, but thought I'd go ahead and share this with you now. Hope it helps you as much as it has us!
