Jan 26, 2009

~ Child Labor ~

We've had charts, stickers, buttons, spinning wheels. There have been rewards, prizes, incentives and punishments. There has been raised voices, begging, pleading and bribery. Rotating jobs, choosing from the list, picking from the jar... you name it, we've tried it to get our kids to help out around here. There have been many successes, and many failures. Lately the house has been falling into disarray as the mother is having a stressful life. At dinner time a conversation was had, wherein I simply let the kids know that mom is having hard time keeping up with everything. So they need to help more. That's it. Simple as that. We increased their usual daily chore list, added a few that mom was doing, and they rotate each week. Why didn't I think of this before. Calm and rational....huh.

I've been asked before what I expect the kids to do around the house. What is considered age appropriate. I figure any child can do any chore, so long as your expectations aren't too high. But here's our weekly list.

Each child is in charge of regular pick up of their room and winter paraphernalia.

There are two lists on the fridge that the two oldest rotate each week.

One says:

Unload Dishwasher

Clear Table

Recycle

Family Room

The other:

Set Table

Load Dishwasher

Sweep Floor

Laundry

In the case of laundry, the child does not actually DO the laundry....(oh, I wish) but helps with what is needed. Changing a load or sorting a clean load. One additional new job has been that the two oldest are now folding their own laundry. I'll wash it and sort it out. Then they find a heap of clean clothes on their bed. They fold it and put away. It's not much for them, but a huge difference in the amount of laundry I fold.

So there you have it. Child Labor at it's best.

As you can imagine they are very happy with this situation and spend their days singing and skipping.

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