Saturday, August 30, 2008

I Love Chores!

I love chores....when my kids are the ones doing them! I know that all of my friends are getting sick and tired of hearing about how much I love our new chore charts---so I thought I would get it out of my system once and for all and mention it on my blog. I have searched high and low for the perfect chore chart for my kids. Zachary is 5 and Emilie is 3 1/2. Luke, who is not quite 2, does not do chores...he just makes messes.

These were some of my criteria:

1. It had to show only one day at a time (one's that display an entire week seem overwhelming).
2. It had to have both pictures and words (since my children are not yet reading but will one day).
3. I wanted to be able to choose the chores.
4. I wanted to be able to change it as they got older.
5. And last but not least, I wanted my kids to be able to independently use their charts (in other words, I did not want to have to look over their shoulders and tell them what to do).

I found the perfect chore system! And you can find it, too....at
www.chores-help-kids.com (I swear I am not getting paid for this....I wish!)


The "I Did My Chores" magnetized version is $24.98 (This is the one I got. I know it seems ridiculously expensive for what it is but a mom's sanity is worth it!)

The "I Did My Chores" original version is $21.99

We have been using these for almost 3 months now. Here is how it works:


The chores are grouped by time of day. Each time of day (morning, noon, after school, and nighttime) also has its' own color cards.



This particular morning, Zachary completed most of his chores (which he placed in the "I Did It!" box) but the one chore he did not do - "Wipe My Place at the Table" - he had to place on the "Extra" hook.



At the end of the day, all completed chore cards are in the "I Did It" box. We give the kids one token (these come with the chore system) for each chore that they complete. (The only penalty for not completing chores is that they do not get a token for those left on the "Extra" hook.) It is not really optional to do chores, so the reason that some chores do not get done is because we are not home at that particular time. For example, we were at someone else's house for lunch so the orange "Noon" time cards do not get done.




This is our "Reward Board." The kids spend their tokens on these things at times that Matt and I consider appropriate.



...more rewards. Zachary usually earns about 15 tokens a day and Emilie about 12, on average. It is fun to see them make choices to "spend" or "save".




Here are some examples of the chore cards. You may not be able to see the words but hopefully the pictures will explain the chore.




The creators of this chore system came up with almost every chore you would think of but they supply the buyer with blank stickers, just in case. Here are some examples that I needed to include for our routines: wash face, get dressed (morning), and wash hands and face (evening).


There are definitely days that my kids are not thrilled to do their chores. Many days, I set the timer (for example, for 20 minutes) in the morning and if they complete all of their chores in the allotted time....they earn 3 extra tokens.



I am actually shocked at how well this chore system is working! I love being able to say, "It is time to start your blue cards," ---instead of saying..."Go brush your teeth," "Go put your pj's on," "Go clear your plate from the table," etc. I feel like much less of a nag!


List of Chores
Morning -
Clear My Plate from the Table
Wipe My Place at the Table (they usually use a wet wipe)
Get Dressed (Emilie sometimes needs help with this--especially shoes and socks)
Make My Bed (of course, they do not look fantastic but that will come in time)
Brush My Hair (I help)
Wash Face
Brush My Teeth
Sweep the Floor (Zachary really wanted me to add this chore to his list so I bought a small broom and dustpan and he sweeps under the kitchen table)

Noon -
Clear My Plate from the Table
Wipe My Place at the Table
Pick Up My Toys


After School -

Pick Up My Toys

Nighttime -

Clear My Plate from the Table

Wipe My Place at the Table

Pick Up Outside Toys

Put My Clothes Away

Set Out My Clothes for Tomorrow

Brush My Teeth

Take a Bath (on the reverse side of this card I put a sticker that says "Wash Hands and Face" for those nights that the kids don't have baths).

Like I said, "I love chores!"

Note: My sister purchased this chore system from a different web site than the one I mentioned and she was not as happy with the quality of the product.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow - good explanation - you definitely should get some commission! That's great you found such a good system!

ListPlanIt said...

This looks like a great system! What I really loved was your variety of rewards. Did you come up with those or are they suggestions from the company? If they are yours, I would love to borrow them for List Mama Blog (with credit and a link to your blog). What do you think?

I believed I followed a link that shows me where my incoming traffic comes from. You have ListPlanIt.com a few guests! Thank you!! I am thrilled to hear that you are enjoying it and even more thrilled that you are telling people about it :-)

Laura said...

Heather, YOU'RE GOING TO BE FAMOUS!!!!!!!

Allison Vasquez said...

Very cool. I'm thinking that I could make my own hook and card system like this . . . I've got about 3 years to do it too, since Mia is not old enough yet for chores!