Chores: How??

I felt the need for a follow up post to yesterday's Chores: Should they have to? post.

As I expressed yesterday I think that chores are vital for a family, for the kids, for the parents, for everyone involved.  I also expressed that I understand and realize that teaching chores to children is demanding work.  They don't just wake up one morning knowing how to wash the dishes or empty the dishwasher.  I can only dream right?

So how do we do chores over here?  Well we do it a lot like we do school.  I have a mental list of what chores need to be done each day.  Sometimes I put the list on paper and sometimes I don't.  As I'm ready for a chore to be done I look around for an available child and call them over to help.  Sometimes it's before I start any school and I assign each child a chore - one to empty the dishwasher, one to empty the dryer, and one to help me fold the laundry.  Sometimes I just want the dishwasher emptied right now because I'm working on cleaning the kitchen so I'll just call in one or two of the boys to do that with me.  Sometimes I do chores with one child at a time because I'm teaching them a new chore and that requires attention and time and patience.

My children do not get an allowance.  They get clothes, and food, and fun activities with their family.  As they get older and are able to do more than the basic household stuff we will most likely find an allowance system but for right now contributing to the family does not get a monetary reward.

We have recently adopted something like this behavior chart and inspired by this blog:

Ours is printed on a regular piece of cardstock and laminated.  We're using the jars and pom poms too.  And once in a while when the kids hop up to help with a chore right away and with a good attitude they get to move their name up!  Let me tell ya attitudes have improved this week. lol  We are really loving this. 

Here's a quick run down: Names start at good job every morning, throughout the day you tell the child to move their name up or down based on behavior, when they hit awesome they get a pom pom in their jar.  At the end of the night if they are on awesome they get an extra 5 pom poms.  Once their jar is full they get a pre-determined treat of some kind.  In our house it's going to be a date with mommy or daddy.  Go check out the original blog Show, Tell, Share to get more details and check out the comment section as she answered several questions there that people (including myself) had.

So to recap:

I think chores are vital!
I think that chores should be done with good attitudes.
For basic chores allowance doesn't happen here but we do have a method of rewarding positive behavior and attitudes.
And chores are going to look different for EVERY family.

We're home all day.  I don't have a NEED to have my kids complete a predetermined list by a certain time in the morning or to rush it all into an hour or two in the evening.  So I'm able to have a looser method with our chores.  But there is NOTHING wrong with people who need, can, and do use a more routine method of chores.  If you've read my blog long you know that routine is not my thing. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Come back again soon!