Chore Chart

Play can be messy.  So can cheeky toddlers.  Since spending so much time at home it has felt more challenging to keep on top of the mess.  So, I decided to turn it around and help the kids take responsibility for helping to run our household.  To illustrate this point with the kids I showed them this picture of Gavin.  I asked them, what would happen if one person in the house had to tidy up everyone's messes all the time? They realized after some prompting that that is too much work for one person.  So we decided we all need to be responsible for helping around the house.

After listening to this, Nyella thought of the book Jillian Jiggs.  This is a great story about teaching kids to tidy up their rooms!  Her Mum exclaims to Jillian, "Jillian, Jillian, Jillian Jiggs, it looks like your room has been lived in by pig!  Nyella decided she wanted to jump in the story and be Jillian.  She quickly made a mess of her room and after we reenacted the story she worked to tidy her room

Next we talked about what jobs the would each like to do to help around at home.  I made a list of possible jobs and the kids got to include it on their chore chart.  Choice is key.  Also, I let them know that they didn't have to do these chores everyday but each chore they did do would earn them 25 cents.  This helps them work on counting by 25s and teaching them about money.  It also helps them with the days of the week as at first I reviewed at the end of each day how many chores they had done.  Immediate reward helps increase incentive at first.

Another great incentive to have the kids help with the cleaning was to make a natural cleaner with them that they could use.

This was also another great opportunity to let my kids experiment with measurement and practise their writing skills.  Having ownership on their very own cleaner was a huge incentive for them.  Soon, all of our windows and many of our surfaces were spotless.  Most importantly, the kids were focussed, working as a team and occupied for over an hour.  Everybody won here!