Yesterday, I shared a great chart on our Facebook page that you can use as a visual reminder to help your kids learn routine & structure. I also mentioned that making the chart together helps kids take more ownership of the process too.
That post prompted one of our clients to share the responsibility chart that she uses to rotate the chores between her 2 daughters. She has given me permission to share the chart and how it works with you here.
First things first, after the family all worked together to come up with a list of the areas that could use cleaning, she gave each chore a really cool title like ‘Gardener’ for watering plants and ‘Dishwashing Diva’ for doing dishes. In my opinion, this is probably one of the biggest reasons it has been successful. With this one little action, she successfully made cleaning seem like fun! And since she involved the girls in the process of deciding what areas needed to be cleaned, they naturally take more ownership of it by being involved.
The girls are expected to complete their own daily responsibilities such as making their bed, etc in addition to three of the chores listed on their “whole house” chore list. After they complete their basic daily chores, they each get 1 of 6 pieces of their shared puzzle. (Six pieces are for six days with a day off on Sunday.) The pieces are laminated with Velcro on the back.
If they complete their puzzle, they get 1 hour computer time and 2 hours of TV for the weekend. You can make your children’s “rewards” anything you know will motivate them to want to succeed.