On Thursday I wrote a post about household chores and the kids lack of completing them lately. I know this is partly my fault. I’m the parent and it’s my job to set the rules, not just constantly pick up after them. The plan for Saturday was get my cleaning done, hang up new “chore charts”, and have a talk with the boys. My husband took the boys out for a while and I got a lot done around the house. When they returned we had our little chat. They immediately noticed the new chore charts I put up on the refrigerator. I was a little surprised about the enthusiasm they displayed as well. They immediately started looking for things they could do. Deacon even put away his own laundry, with supervision of course. And honestly, it didn’t take that much longer than it would have if I had done it myself.
The key to this new project is sticking with it and being persistent. By day two getting stickers seemed to have lost its luster, this was mainly due to the enormous mess they made upstairs and the realization that THEY had to clean up every bit of it. I am hoping this teaches them to put away as you go and to not make such an enormous mess. Supervising the clean up took a lot of patience, I won’t lie. There were moments where I wanted to send them all downstairs and I would finish it myself, but I persevered and they completed the job themselves. Some M&Ms helped make the job worth it for them…for me it was glass of wine. We’ve had some whining here and there, and some “Mom, can’t you just do it?” I’m staying strong. I’ve already seen the progress of not having to tell them to do things, they automatically just do it. We’re going to keep going with this. Logan’s plan is to get enough stickers to buy his own lizard…I’m not so sure about that. We’ll see.
What kind of lizard are you looking at? I have some recommendations if you’re first-timers.
Something that doesn’t eat crickets and not an iguana that is going to cost a fortune to feed. I am trying to convince them to pick a California Fire Belly Newt…I love them. They’re hooked on a lizard, not an amphibian 🙁
Not backing down is the hard part. Very nice post. I’ll be reading more. Thanks.
Thanks for reading!
Sometimes even now it is just quicker to do it myself, but I don’t tell the kids that! I just give the kids something else to do. I pick my battles because there are so many to choose from. ; ) You’ve got to love this age though, when so many things are still fun to them.
Good luck! Chore charts, inour house always work great at first, then lose their lustre too!
Hi Sheri!
I love reading your blog posts about life as a mom of 3 boys. We really should all be in our own category. Not that we have it harder than others but it’s just a different breed 😉 Chrissy McCann has 3 boys as well–gotta love Facebook! My questions for you are about your chore charts. We’ve been talking about setting these up forever and I’m at the end of my rope here. Our house is out of control and I just can’t keep up with it. I wanted to do just what you did with the pictures and words since we have nonreaders
Whoops! Hit reply too soon.
I can’t read all of the chores you chose from the picture you posted. Was the first one coats and shoes? That’s a big one for us. How and when do they earn their stickers? Is it a daily thing? Weekly thing? Do you ever take any away for misbehaving? Also, do tge stickers add up to dome reward? Sorry for all of the questions. I am on break this week and I’m eager to get this thing set up. Can you tell?
Thanks!
Hope you enjoyed your night out or in!
Casey
Hi Casey,
Thanks for reading. You’re right…totally different breed. First coats and shoes, clothes in the hamper, put clean clothes away, help make beds, put dishes in the sink, pick up toys…and the last is get caught being kind. If I don’t remind them to hang up their coat and put their shoes away they get a sticker. If they did all their dishes that day (3 meals and snacks) they get a sticker for the day. Although, the little guy gets more assistance. We are thinking of X-ing out stickers for misbehaving. They have to fill up the chart and then they are rewarded. 70 stickers. Good luck. I really takes the parents effort for the follow through.
PS. we did go out for a little bit the other night and called it an early night. 9 full hours of sleep..HEAVENLY!