Before I reveal my personal belief on chores, I'm really hoping to find out about your family! How old are your children and do they or do they not do "chores" in your home? (Or, did they, if your children are grown?)
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Thank you, Friends.
"The Cottingtons"
The Harringtons + The Cottas = "The Cottingtons"
Oh chores! I love them. I look at them as sweet return for time spend when the kids were too young to do them and I did everything. It makes me feel proud of my parenting skills when they are sweating it out. Hard work. Good stuff. Now ...that said..typical chores my kids do as follows:
ReplyDelete12 year old.....vacuums, sharks wood floors, cleans bathrooms, wash inside/outside of car including shop vac to do inside, mows lawn with push mower, windows and base boards,vacuums pool
10 year old......vacuums pool with help on set up, scrubs bird path, rakes leaves,clean base boards, clean bathrooms, wash outside of car...oh and his most favorite....picking weeds!
7 year old...clean baseboards, wash windows, clean and tidy up shoe organizer, scrub bird bath, clean her room(make bed,pick up toys,clothes)
Things not considered chores....
they all make their lunch each morning...we adults will make their sandwich or pack hot thermos...but they have to add fruit,snack,water. They all feed and take care of pets. The older 2 have to keep room clean and make bed ..not considered a chore.
Over the years..I have realized to cater chores to the kids personalities......so I get a better results. For example my oldest is a perfection;he may get less chores but I know it will take him the longest and the job will get done better then if i did it.(my husband's cleaning personality)
My middle man is not so focused on the little stuff..he wants the job done! He gets a lot of chores and does them quick and ,well, not so perfect. So for him....he gets the jobs that really only need to be done periodly(like cleaning baseboards).We just have him do them every week, and he gets more # of jobs and we may "fine tune" a bit .(my cleaning personality)
Our youngest..is still a work in progress...she needs a lot of postivie reinforcement...try to make a game of it and honestly..though I would never tell her....I am tickled if she can just get her room clean. I know this will be a battle until she moves out. She seems to embrace chaos!
So.....sounds good when in type.....but some weeks go smooth and kids just get it done......some weeks I am not in cleaning mood and we get the weekend off.....sometimes I am a drill sargent....most likley when I want the house to look presentable for guests/family.
So all in all I heart chores. I think my kids are pretty hard workers in general. I have my husband to thank a lot for this.....he sets high expectations.I reap the benefits. Kids rock!
Your blog follower, Sue <3
I was giving others time to respond, but I'm thinking they read your response and you've already given them a lot to think about, Sue! :) I'll add my thoughts this week. I will say...good for you, Sue! Seriously, good for you! :)
ReplyDeleteI want to add that I so appreciate hearing the details of what you ask your kids to accomplish! Most parents who have approached me with concerns for their kids never cleaning their bedroom have NEVER set specific expectations for them! They need details!! Give them detailed expectations and they, more often than not, will achieve those expectations! It's funny how we interview people in the professional world and hire them only for positions they are qualified for, however we often think it is a "catch all" when it comes to job assignments at home! You are an AWESOME mom who organizes her house according to what each member can handle and more importantly...according to their individual strengths!! Thanks SO much for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteBunch of kids in our family. They're like 6. Or 14, or something. It's kind of a blur. All I know is we had a terrible time with sharing chores in our house, but it turned out we were overlooking one very important tool: the internet. We now use upsees.com to keep track of whose turn it is to do what and I don't think we'd know what to do without it. Everyone actually does their part, which still kind of amazes me. It shows how valuable the internet is for communicating and coordinating, even within the home.
ReplyDeleteI've never looked at upsees.com. Thanks...I'll check it out now! :)
ReplyDeleteOK, I checked it out. Great site and probably helps a lot with an older group of kids and most especially for those few chores everyone "hates" because it allows for rotation. But, for our family...half the kiddos are a bit young to be able to navigate the site and it only allows 10 tasks!! Our family (on a normal weekday - more for weekend days) has 50+ chores between all of our lists. I know, I know, I'm a tough one. :) Thanks for the info, though!!
ReplyDelete