Chores are an never ending battle. And for years I switched up how we addressed chores, and was the reward basis was. In fact I'm writing this post now because I haven't been on my blog in almost 5 years! and my last post was regarding chores. And to tell you the truth, all though those chore tokens were fun, they ended up working for just a few short weeks... they ended up in the kids play food. It wasn't for lack of trying. I DID TRY. But it turns out when it comes to chores, I need something that is EASY for both me and my children. I don't want to have to count up tokens, and remember to move them back to "to do" when complete for the week. In face any time I've decided to incorporate a system similar to this it fails QUICKLY. I've been using the same short chart since my last chore token attempt failed... that's right! I've been using this chore system for nearly 5 years!! And it works!! It has been the only thing that has worked for us! I've had to update it to 5 kids and add more chores once my little man was old enough to join in, and now that I have 6 I'll have to update it again in another year or two. But other than updating it, it's a permanent fixture on our fridge.
It is a simple Chore Wheel! Each morning I rotate the kids names clockwise and they have their two chores they are responsible for for the day, and it also lists their dinner duty for the evening.
And I've taken away rewards for doing chores completely. They aren't optional, they have to do chores. And lets face it, I don't get rewards for doing chores, and I don't expect rewards for doing chores, and I don't think my kids should either. They still get to play computer/wii once a week for an hour, but we don't count it as a reward for doing what they need to do.
The chore wheel was just made on Apple Pages program. It's not my favorite program to create with but it works. I much prefer Microsoft Publisher when it comes to creating this like this, but you gotta work with what you have. I'm looking forward to the day when Apple has a program comparable to Microsoft Publisher!
There's my chore rant for the day! What works for chores in your family??
-Julie
