Alexis and Taylor are great helpers. Most of the time they love to work with us on projects inside and outside the home because they enjoy spending time with Mom and Dad. They also appreciate the praise they get for their hard work and “a job, well done”.
In an continued effort to organize our life and teach our children responsibility and cleanliness, we use chore charts daily. I found the charts at Free Printable Behavior Charts sometime last year. If you scan the left side of the home page you will see various links for charts. They have this chore chart for older kids in a four week pdf file you can print or save. I guess I have the old three week version on my computer.
This chart works great for us. Our girls have simple chores for a seven and eight year old:
The white boxes mean “do this chore”. Black boxes mean “skip this chore”. Checks mean “chore done”. Lines mean “chore not done”. Alexis and Taylor earn 10 cents per chore. Chores and earnings will change as they grow. Sometimes we miss a day or two because we are sick, busy, forgetful, or not at home. Sometimes they complain and don’t want to work. Sometimes we have to remind them. We changed the chores and the schedule, trying to find what works best. We separated their chores because our girls did not want to work together. Every family is different and if you decide to try this you can easily adjust it to meet the needs of your family.
When we ask Alexis and Taylor to do something, even if it is not on the chore chart, we still expect them to help us. They have to clean their room, pick up their clothes and toys, and put their dishes in the sink, even though they don’t get paid for it. The small amount of money they earn from their chore charts is just an incentive and a reward for being responsible and clean little people. Dimes add up and before long they become dollars. Most of the time our kids have more cash on hand then Mom and Dad. Another lesson learned :)
