Chore charts

A mum friend of mine mentioned chore charts the other day and I was immediately sold as whilst my kids have been taught to help me from a young age (they love a vacuum), they’ve gotten a little bit lazy (as have I on the discipline) and have gotten used to mummy and daddy doing everything!

I admittedly mollycoddle my ‘baby’ Alexander (see!) and after his teacher recommended I do less so he can dress and undress himself quicker for PE, I realised I was indeed micromanaging read spoiling my kids!

Enter chore charts with the days of the week on one side and a list of jobs on the other spanning making beds to pouring cereal, wiping the table and washing the dishes.

Each child gets a monthly fee and whilst some might understandably disagree with payment for chores, the monetary aspect motivates them and at least gets them working for pocket money as opposed to simply receiving payouts out of thin air. The chores are also instilling a work ethic in my boys and watching them take pride in their tasks is quite the heart-melter.

Oliver has been enthusiastic with washing the pans and stacking the dishwasher and even requested I buy him yellow gloves and whilst Xander has taken to chores a little more sheepishly, both are adapting to this new daily routine and relish in ticking off their daily tasks before bedtime.

Chore charts are providing greater structure to the day while teaching my sons to earn, and save (Oliver kindly offered me his entire year’s savings when my phone was stolen yesterday which touched my heart) and these charts have stopped me impulse-buying kids’ mags and Pokémon cards as an expensive bribe.

My only regret is I wish I’d done this sooner.

Do you use chore charts or similar in your house?

 

Photo by J. Kelly Brito on Unsplash