I will be the first to admit that I have never made my children do chores. I’m the type of mom who would rather do it myself because it will get done the “right” way. Even my husband does minimal cleaning because I’m so picky. However, this year I decided to change all that. Housework was starting to get overwhelming for me because the toddlers are at the age where they are DESTROYING our house. I feel like cleaning is a waste of time because it stays clean for exactly 4 hours. I couldn’t keep up. Time to enlist the soldiers..
I’m going to share how we’ve been making our ten years old responsible over their summer vacation. Not just how to get them to help with the cleaning but much more! It’s easy to slack off, and they are kids.. they deserve to enjoy their summer! BUT I think they’re definitely old enough to start becoming more responsible.
GET A PLANNER
Make it fun by buying them their own planner. This allows them to keep track of the days, see what they have going on, write down chores, memory keep, and more! As you may know, I’m a huge planner fan. Sharing that passion with my kids has been amazing. They LOVE looking in their planner and crossing things off, coloring, and adding stickers. It’s a way to make responsibility “fun”.
Erin Condren recently came out with a planner made just for kids! I LOVE IT. It not only has a month calendar but extra pages to get them thinking about their routines, goals, fun things they did, and even some creative pages! It’s undated so you can start it on which ever month works best for you. You can check out my Youtube review of the kids planner: HERE.
This is where I keep track of their chores and allowances. You can see I write down a few things they are in charge of every month and I keep a tally of how many times they completed it. At the end of the month, I count the tallies and give them their allowance. I usually do .50 cents per task. I also switch their tasks up every month.
Check out the Kids Planner: HERE
OPEN A BANK ACCOUNT
I know a lot of parents open up a bank account for their kids at a younger age. We never did, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been saving. McKenzie and Kasey keep good ole fashion piggy banks. This is where they put all their birthday money, and anything else they have ever saved. I think it’s a good age to take them to the bank and open up a savings account just in their name. This is another way to keep them motivated to save and work hard on their chores!
CREATING A ROUTINE
Having a routine is a must for my family of six. Since it’s summer it’s harder to stick to that routine but I believe if you try to have somewhat of a routine, it will help your kids know when they need to complete their responsibilities. For example, right when they wake up they can use their electronics (which gives me time to wake up and prepare for the craziness). They have breakfast, complete a chore, play outside/inside, lunch, more play, dinner, 30 minutes of reading, another chore, shower, relax in their room/electronics, bedtime. You get it. It’s important to have those dedicated times they know are for responsibilities because then… they know they have to do it.. it won’t be sprung on them and they will be less likely to complain.
TEACH THEM TO SET GOALS AND DISCUSS THEM WEEKLY
At the start of every month, have them write down some goals (write them in the planner!). They could be as simple as finishing a book, buying a toy, or learning how to dive off the diving board. It doesn’t have to be about money. Any type of goal is great! Help them think of ways they could reach those goals. For example, if they want to finish a book, reading three chapters a day would be a great step. Or if they want to buy a toy, help them figure out how many chores they will need to complete each week to earn enough.
Having a weekly check-in to see how they are doing is a good idea. This will help them remember they trying to meet a goal and you can adjust the steps if needed.
We have been doing these four things since June and so far I’m loving how it is helping my girls. They even have chores they love doing! Who knew McKenzie loved unloading the dishwasher so much – haha! I can’t wait to see how big they can get their savings account this summer. They even want to have a lemonade stand to make some extra money… entrepreneurship is coming out!
What are some tips and tricks you use on your kids? Leave them in the comments below.
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