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Trying to get your whole family involved in household chores
and activities? Use family chore charts to get everyone working
together.
I know how difficult it can be to get everyone on the same page
as far as household chores and other mundane activities that must be
done. One answer is to make the project as fun as possible. Family
chore charts or reward charts are effective because they are a visual
reminder to the whole family of the agreed upon teamwork.
You'll see that there are two featured chore charts on this page. The
first is a Family Reward Chart, simply because it emphasizes goals and
prizes. Again, this is putting a priority on making this process fun.
The second chart is a Family Chore Chart and, as the name implies, it
is a straightforward chore chart that lets everyone in your household
keep track of their chore responsibilities, Both charts allow you to
"fill in the blanks" for your particular family needs.
Print this Family reward chart or this Family chore chart (Requires a PDF file reader such
as Adobe Acrobat Reader).
Family chore charts can work hard in many ways for you.
One idea that my family has had success with is all of us doing our
chores at the same time. We clean the house together most Saturday
mornings. I get more cooperation because everyone is pitching in and
when it's done, it's done for another week. We have found it harder to
clean throughout the week, independently. I hear a lot more complaining
with that method. But your situation will be different from mine. Do a
little testing and see what works for your family.
Try putting on music or audio programs in the background to spur your
chore chart workers. Put a little checkmark on your family chore chart
next to the person who got to choose the music of the day. Next time it
will be someone else's turn.
Have a race: who can get their chore done in 15 minutes? Then set the
timer again for 15 minutes and, just like that, the next chore is done.
Making all your tasks bite-sized this way is very effective and feels
amazingly productive.
- You are building relationships using family chore charts.
Believe me, Mom or Dad, you can do a lot of listening over the years
while sweeping floors, folding laundry and dusting furniture. Cleaning
garages, basements and attics with your kids is great one-on-one time
with them. Be patient; once they get past complaining, they will want
to talk and your job is to simply listen. Ask a few leading questions
to keep the conversation going. If possible, leave the lectures for
another time; an open attitude will encourage more conversation.
This is one of the best perks of doing chores together as a family. If
you want to have teens who will talk to you, start as young as possible
doing chores together and listening to them share their souls with you.
They have a lot on their hearts and minds and if you won't listen to
them, they'll find someone who will. That's just human nature.
Another way to use family chore charts is to rotate the chores among
family members and let a different family member assign the chores each
week. This method depends upon the ages of your children, the types of
chores and the support of the adults in the household. It is a very
effective way to get children thinking about appropriate chores,
fairness, and the realities of running a household.
- Print out two family chore charts.
Use one for listing everyone's least favorite chore. Give a 'free chore
pass' or something fun to the family member who completes his least
favorite chore first during the week. Do something similar for a family
member who does someone else's detested chore as a favor for them. The
bottom line? Reward positive, disciplined and kind behavior. These
character traits are infinitely more valuable than whether or not your
house is totally clean.
For more ideas on parenting, see my 10 parenting tips page.
- Want more ideas on using family chore charts?
See my free chore chart page or check out my free behavior charts to print. These pages have more ideas on using chore charts effectively.
Colleen Langenfeld is a mother with over 25 years of parenting experience and helps other busy moms at http://www.paintedgold.com.
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