So I've decided that my kids are little slackers who don't do a blessed thing in this house. I'm constantly on them to do the things that...well...they should be doing. Make your bed? Put your clothes (shock)
in the hamper? C'mon, guys!
So I've instituted the next level in my
county jail house...
Chores!
These are hanging up in my kitchen (to my Keshet staff readers-didn't I do a nice job? I feel like we live in Keshet-laminated, velcroed, and hung up in the kitchen!)
Can you guys read it all?
Really, there is no rocket science here. Just put your freaking laundry in the hamper, PLEASE for Pete's sake! (Who is Pete and why is he in my blog post?)
This is week one. So far the
little slaves kids are being surprisingly cooperative. But then again, kids like responsibility. And guidelines. And rules. And allowance. Which will most probably be awarded for completion of chores. Speaking of which-who here gives allowance? How much do you give?
I'll keep you all posted...
Can you guys read it all?
7 comments:
We have tried allowances in the past but found that they have no impact on the chores being completed so promptly dropped that. All they wanted were "advances" so they could buy what they wanted whenever. When we did do them, we found that a dollar per year of age was about adequate. Although that gets to be a lot with a lot of kids who keep getting older every year (darn them) so we adjusted it. They got 1/2 their age to spend and the other 1/2 went into a savings account...that way if money was tight, they would not notice if the other half only went in once and awhile.
Good luck!!
Excellent!!!! So appeals to my sense of order. You've done a great job with this. Looking forward to hearing how wonderfully the kids do their chores. Love you, Mommy
Fab! Now the only person missing is your husband :)This just inspired me to make a chart for my house! Thanks
Excellent!! I really like it. Anyways, Nice blog..
Oh man, I am always complaining that my kids don't do their chores, but the truth is *I* don't stay on top of them enough. I hate that about myself, b/c really, the only person I have to blame is me (well, ok, and my husband ;-)
We do allowance for my 7 yo. It's a whopping $7 a month, but it's not tied to chores. And half the time I forget to give it to him anyway. (You can see I have an issue with consistency!)
I love the categories on the chart. I don't remember how much allowance we gave our kids when they were younger, but I do remember what we told them and that we stuck by it.
We told them that they would have jobs around the house because everyone who lived in our home had to pitch in--that is what families do. We also told them that we thought that as members of our family, they had a right to an allowance so that they could spend, save, give to tzedakah as they wished.
After a while, when they wanted raises in their allowance, we told them that as they got older their jobs would increase--but this was not related to allowance. If they wanted a raise they had to show us they were growing up and taking more responsibility on their own---for example: doing jobs without us reminding them, doing a better job than they had before, and showing initiative by taking on more responsibility, also by doing jobs without whining and complaining.
It has worked out well. They are 21 and almost 18 and when they are home, they still do the same jobs and anything else that I ask. Even without allowance.
I don't remember how much allowance we gave our kids when they were younger, but I do remember what we told them and that we stuck by it.
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