Chores

I dream of the day when the kids are doing all housework.  I mean, it's got to be a perk of having so many children right?  I figure in the next 5 years, if I play my cards right, most of the housework can be completed by the kids.  The girls will be seven...plenty old enough to set the table, clear it and help with laundry.  Gavin will be nine.  I see doing the dishes and yard work in his future.  And Zander, well by 11, I'm sure he will be cleaning the bathrooms and doing most of the cooking.  A mother can dream, right?

look at this lazy bunch of misfits!

I've been working on making a schedule of chores for the kids....well, the big boys.  For the girls, a more consistent clean up routine.  (I'm the type that does it myself because it's easier and faster)

I  involved the boys with the brainstorming.  I was surprised at how "on board" they were.  They are actually excited about having chores!  And even more excited about the reward system (more about that later!)

We went to Mardel's and bought a couple of reusable chore charts and stickers. 

Here are their daily chores:

• Make bed
• Clean room
• Put away toys
• Dust (once a week)
• Feed  Obi
• Set table
• Clear table
• Rinse dishes (at lunch and breakfast)
• Water plants
• Help with laundry
• Homework or read
• Empty trash in bathrooms
• Clean bathrooms (3x's a week)
• Practice music or dance
• Good attitude

I started making my own cleaning supplies a couple months ago, so I feel comfortable handing my 4 year old a bottle of non-toxic cleaner (made with tea-tree oil or vinegar).  He thinks it's fun to spray down the bathroom counter tops and toilet.  I wonder how long this fun will last....

I think our reward system is pretty cool too.  The boys are NOT good with money yet.  They like to keep it in their pockets where it gets lost, give it to their friends or they become obsessed with spending it.  So we decided to do a point system.  Each sticker is worth one point.  At the end of the week we add up the stickers and write the total down then clear the chart to start the next week. 

One afternoon when the twins were napping, the boys and I browsed the Toys R Us website.  They had a blast looking at all the toys.  I printed out pictures of a couple of the things they thought were cool....all ranging in price....$5 to $1200!!  At the bottom of the picture I put how many points each one "cost" and hung it on their bedroom door.  Obviously they won't make enough money to buy the bigger items, but I went ahead printed it out because I want them to dream AND learn the value of a dollar. 

I'm very curious to see what comes of this system.  Will they buy a small item...just because they can?  Will they save their points for a bigger item?  Will they put their points together to share something?  

Only time will tell....I'll let you know how it goes....wish me luck!!