I’ve been avoiding the chore thing for a long time. I’d assign a job to my children, but often I would do them myself or let it go. I never had a system down or used consistency in making my children do work. I’ve been feeling the push to change that. It’s part of our family’s CORE learning that I’ve been neglecting–to my detriment and ultimately theirs.
For the past few weeks my children have known what jobs to expect and when. I finally assigned rooms or areas of the house in addition to laundry and dishes. The older two children would have the same jobs for two days and then trade (I created a two-week schedule to help with this, week A and week B). My two middle children would have the same jobs because they’re only six and four. I wrote the chores on my large white board. It’s been a very “large” reminder for me and the kids. Well, now I can’t use the board otherwise, so I finally sat down today and made a chart. Since I’ve tested the chores and assignments before creating the chart, I believe it will continue to work for my family and allow me to have my board back.
I plan to put the charts in a clear sheet protector so we can write with a dry-erase marker and erase it easily. This way my children can mark off what they accomplished for accountability purposes as well as for seeing what needs to be done. There are 2 boxes for each chore–one for morning and one for evening. Using the sheet protector saves paper and ink so I won’t need to print a new chart every few weeks.
This is my version for my family. Explanations for each assignment follow the documents.
Here are blank documents if you want to use them. Please, only for personal use. Each one has room of 4 children and 17 jobs/assignments.
This blank one is in color. It’s available in .doc or .pdf format:
Here’s the blank one in grey. If you have boys and they refuse to be labeled with pink, this one is for you. It’s also available in .doc or .pdf format.
Sunday: Sunday chores aren’t like the other days. I don’t believe that Heavenly Father expects me to just let my house get messy just because it’s Sunday…so my children still have assignments, but they are much less involved than on other days. For instance, I don’t expect my girls to scrub the bathrooms on Sunday but make sure the towels are hung up or clothing is in the dirty laundry instead of on the floor. I only expect the children to keep things straightened up in their respective areas, not do deep cleaning. We do daily pickups and make sure that the house is clean for Sunday to avoid the deep cleaning that day.
Clean Dishes: This just means that one of my children is in charge of emptying the dishwasher and putting the dishes away, as well as any clean dishes in the dish drainer on the counter top.
Dirty Dishes: The child with this assignment gets to put dirt dishes in the dishwasher and make sure anything else that doesn’t fit in gets washed too.
Living Room: I like my living room to me picked up and nice because it’s the first thing someone sees when they come to my front door or looks through my front window. Also, it has tons of books in it which means that they tend to get strewn across the floor when the little ones look at books. I don’t mind that, I just like it to be cleaned up without me having to do it all the time. I also have couch pillows that we have been putting on the rocks in front of my fireplace as seat cushions. These also tend to be out of place a lot. Vacuuming and dusting is part of the living room assignment, if it’s needed.
Kitchen: My kitchen is small, and if it’s messy, I go absolutely crazy! This assignment is more to help me with the kitchen since a lot of my time is spent in it preparing food. Some of the jobs for the kitchen are: wiping off counters and the stove top, sweeping the floor, mopping the floor, washing off cupboards, washing the window, and picking up toys and papers off the floor.
Family Room: This is our big room downstairs. I don’t go downstairs as often as the children play down there. It houses lots of books (we’re getting another bookshelf to replace the one the kids broke months ago), and the entertainment center (tv, dvd/vcr player, movies). We have a few large chairs and an old love sac. Nothing spectacular, but it gets the messiest because the kids take their toys in there and leave them. It is adjacent to a wide hallway which also tends to get toys dumped in it. Some of the jobs for the family room is: vacuuming when needed, straightening up the entertainment center, picking up toys and other things on the floor; straightening up the books, etc…
Hallway (down): This is pretty similar to the family room or living room chore, only it involves one table and some floor space. The person who vacuums the family room, does the hallway, but the child who has the hallway assignment does everything else. The only thing that should be left in the hall is the table.
Bedroom: My oldest two girls share a bedroom. They’re working on taking care of their own stuff, but my eight year-old tends to be the messiest because she just leaves her stuff all over the place. This exasperates my ten year-old, but it’s a process, and she’s slowly understanding that. The requirements for their bedroom is: put all toys away in toy boxes and appropriate places, dirty clothes in the hamper, clean clothes hung up or in drawers, beds made (they do their own), vacuum if needed, straighten up surfaces like their desk and dresser, and straighten up shoes on closet floor.
Recycle Bin & Garbage: We have a recycle box in our kitchen for recyclable paper and plastic. When it gets full, my oldest son, who is six, takes it out to the bin in the driveway. Garbage for him is just to take the kitchen garbage out to the can in the driveway. He’ll work up to emptying all the garbage cans in the house.
Bathrooms: We have 1 3/4 baths. My oldest daughter has pretty much been the only one to clean the bathroom besides myself or my husband. It’s overdue for my eight year-old to learn this chore. Jobs included in these assignments: sweep floor; clean mirror; empty garbage; scrub and wipe down sink, toilet, and tub; mop the floor, and wipe down walls (if needed).
Laundry: My oldest knows how to sort, wash, dry, and put away all the laundry, but it’s a monumental task in our household because there is so much (7 people will make it that way!). My eight year-old can sort dirty laundry and put away clean laundry, but the wash/dry is something she’s just learning. I’ve been too focused on other things to teach it to her. That’s changing! Each child’s assignment for laundry is based upon their age. My oldest two will be doing it all except putting it all away. My two middle children can help sort clean laundry and put it away, as well as put their dirty laundry in the laundry room. We have a family clean laundry sort if we have more than one batch to sort. The kids do it fast now, and seem to enjoy the family time even if it’s doing work. I love that!
Blanks: I may come up with something else to add or make a seasonal assignment like snow shoveling or lawn mowing. I haven’t decided exactly yet. We’ll have to see.
