Doug and I decided that we wanted our kids to learn responsibility from the get go. Considering that Natalie is 3 and Ella is 1, Cayli at this moment, is the only one who gets the privilage to take on these things.
In the beginning, we decided to give Cayli 4 simple chores: fold the towels, put up the dishes, vaccuum the rug, and take out the trash. Easy peasy right?? Wrong! I would LOVE to only have these chores right?
As soon as she would get home from school she would fiddle fart around the house, not attempting to complete anything she had to do, including her homework. I would gently remind her that she had things to do and she would respond with "I know, I know." There were days when she wouldn't complete her chores till the very last minute and she would stomp while she was doing them. I continued to get angry, yes even I get angry, and remind her that she is part of this family and she WILL do her responsibilities.
Let me just add that this did not seem to work that well. I would get angry, she would get angry, and this was a vicious cycle that would continue every day.
One day, driving down the road, (I usually get my best ideas at this time) I came up with the idea to let her pick her own chores. That way, I wasn't the bad guy. She was the one who picked them so she had to live with the consequences.
What we did was make a list of all the chores in the house. From wiping down the counters to washing clothes. We then made a chart and put them under 3 categories: Easy, medium, and hard. We worked together as a family and decided which chores needed to go where. It was actually fun! We were communicating and she was actually getting a say during this process.
I then had Cayli pick 4 chores: 2 easy, 1 medium, and 1 hard. She picked, pick up living room, put dishes away, wipe down countertops, and do 1 load of laundry. Yes, my child picked 1 load of laundry. I was amazed. She actually wanted to do that?? All because I let HER decide.
We decided to do it on 1 month rotations so that way she wouldn't get bored doing the same thing over and over. At the end of the month, she gets to pick 4 more chores. We also decided that she would complete different chores each month (so she wouldn't get to keep the easy ones she's already used to.) I wanted my child to learn life. I wanted her to know how to wash clothes, how to wash dishes, and even how to cook dinner. Nowadays, kids get the easy way out and when they are pushed out of the nest........they don't know how to fly.
I made a simple chart from computer paper and construction paper. I listed her 4 chores and I drew the month. Each day that she completes ALL her chores, she gets a sticker. Because my daughter likes to frequently visit with friends, I gave her 3 'free' passes a month. These passes allow her to skip her chores, the reason could be from going to a friend's house or just not feeling good. This method has worked for a week so far and will hopefully continue to work for a long time.
Who knew that by sitting down and letting her help with the decision-making would make her motivated to do her chores.
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