chores.

I don't know about you but I believe in chores.  Kids need to do them.  They need to learn how a house runs and that everyone in the family does their part to keep the house clean, neat, picked up, and that their parents are not their personal slaves.  Or that there are clean up fairies that come out at night while everyone is asleep...(that's something I know I'd love...can you order those somewhere?)

We have nothing fancy for our chore chart.  It's extremely homemade.  Not professional at all.  I didn't make it.  Well...I sort of did and I sort of didn't.  I made that graph thing and wrote the chores in.  The kids drew a picture that represented them.  There's just tape on the back of each person and we move each child every week in a rotating fashion.  Person on the far right moves to the far left and everyone moves to the right one column. 

Nothing fancy.  The chores aren't fancy either.  The chores (in bigger writing) are the chores that each child does everyday (except the person that folds the clothes...they do that once a week...and they don't really fold them...they throw them in a basket for each person and take them to the person's room....they get off easy for that week).  The smaller writing is weekly chores...Saturday cleaning chores...things like the bathroom, mop the floor, etc.

Our kids don't get paid for their daily chores.  Daily chores are expected.  That's what we do as members of a family.  Everyone does their part.  It's the way it is.

They do get commission for their weekly chores.  We want our kids, at a young age to learn what it's like to get paid for a job well done, how to save money, how to tithe, and the value of money to spend. 

Giving our kids a chance to earn money is a gift to them, and to us, when they're pleading for something at the store (or begging) and we ask them, "Did you bring your money?"  Most of the time they didn't.  Sometimes, they know we're going to the store and they grab their little purses or make sure they have their wallet.  It eliminates the begging.  It also makes them think about whether or not they really want to buy that candy.  If they are saving up for something big like a build-a-bear, they will forego a lot of candy and other little things they want to buy.  It helps them to decide what is worth spending money on and what isn't.

Here's the breakdown of our chore chart:

Chore one:

Daily: trash and sweep floor after dinner

Weekly:  Kids bathroom and vacuum and dust guest room and hallway

Chore two:

Daily: Dishes with Mom or Dad

Weekly:  Master Bath and vacuum and dust art room and Emmett's room

Chore three: 

Daily:Fold clothes (divide and put into rooms)

Weekly: Small bath, mop kitchen floor and mop and dust studio

Chore four:

Daily:  Set the table

Weekly:  Master Bath and vacuum and dust mom and dad's room and girls' room

With chores it's very important to train children how to do them and to be extremely patient with their best efforts.  Finding anything you can to encourage and compliment them on.  Mike and I are always going around to all of the jobs on a Saturday morning (or one of us if only one of us is here...which happens a lot) and we just check up on the kids, find out if they need help, encourage, or make suggestions.  We also have a little bit of work to do, too...we vacuum and dust the family room and help the kids.  Our goal on a Saturday morning is to start by 10am and be done by noon.  I'd like to get done faster and hopefully over time...it will get faster.

I always comment for the rest of the day about how awesome the house looks.  That I love the clean smell every time I walk in and how fantastic things look.  If I walk into the bathroom, I say how great it looks.  I want everyone to feel good about their chore...whether it's during the week or on the weekend.

Once we're done we spend the afternoon doing something that's more along the lines of entertainment. It always feels like we accomplished a lot by getting chores done first thing. Our house is clean, everyone has completed a project, and we've worked together.  Working as a family brings a family together. 

clean. LIFE.