Teaching kids responsibility. I’ve reached that part in my parenting journey to teach my kids about the importance of earning money and helping out. Here is how I made a Chore Chart for the kids.
When I took my social media break and focused on ways to improve my life and our family, this was one of the things I wanted to focus on. Being a mom of 3 I wear many different hats each day. Sometimes getting everything done in the few free hours I have (while the baby naps and the girls are at school), didn’t seem to be quite long enough. Plus, I wanted to start spending more time for myself. As I get older I am realizing how important it is to carve out “Me-Time”.
I had to take some of the burden off of myself, so what better way than to hand over some responsibilities to the kids.
The Good Old Chore Chart
Chore Charts for Kids
I’m sure we all can remember a time where our parents made us do household chores. Well, it was now my time to pass the torch onto the girls.
I told them I would make them a chart so they could track each day what they accomplished and then at the end of the week I would pay them for their hard work. They LOVED the idea that they would be making their own money. At first they talked about all the things thing would buy with their new hard-earned dollars.
Phrases like, “Ooo, I can get a barbie” and “I want to buy an LOL Doll” started spewing from their mouths. But when I responded “Or you could spend your money on a trip to the ice cream store or to save up for something really special like music lessons” their little faces really lit up. I think I blew their mind when they realized they could use this money for so much more then just another toy.
They were sold.
So I made up a chart with 4 empty spaces. I picked two chores and then they each got to pick 2 chores. Letting them choose some of the chores really helped. It was a way to get them excited by letting them be in control and choose some of their own responsibilities.
To start off I chose really simple ones.
The First Chore was to put all their stuffed animals away and make their beds each morning. I feel like this is the tried and true, beginner chore. I always feel so much better when I make my bed each morning so I wanted to begin that habit for them.
The second chore that I picked was to get fully ready for school each morning. That meant get dressed, brush teeth, check your backpack and get shoes on (WITHOUT ME ASKING). This had become a struggle in the mornings. The girls would get distracted and start playing and then we were always stressed and rushing to get out the door on time for school.
Then the girls got to choose 2 chores they really wanted to help with.
Evie chose to empty all the bathroom trash cans and empty the dishwasher.
Tessa chose to put all dirty clothes in the washing machine and to set and clear the dinner table.
I filled out their chore charts and hung them on the refrigerator.
For the first couple of days I had to do some reminding. I would simply say “Check your Chart”. They would run over and look at what they had to do and quickly get it done so they could come back and make that big checkmark to earn their money.
After about a week or so, I found that I wasn’t having to do any reminding. They would come down the stairs already dressed and start going through their list.
Click Here for the Chore Charts I made. Feel free to download for FREE and use for your household.
I’ve also come up with a great list of chore ideas per age group to help get you started.
I can’t tell you how helpful it has been to have the girls take some simple tasks off my plate.
Love this post on Kids Chore Chart and List? Some other posts I know you will love are Kids Playhouse Makeover | The Best Way to Organize Keepsakes | Cousin Camp Party | 10 Hacks for Your Next Family Road Trip (#8 is a MUST)
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