Let me preface this post by saying - my home is not always clean. More often than not, you'll find a layer of dust or a spot that sticks you to the floor or a mess in need of a "hazardous waste" sign! Now that I live in a larger home with a lot more people, I just. Cannot. Keep. Up! There was a time when I would do a deep clean once a week - yeah - a time when we lived with half the children in less than half the space. We've used a few different chore charts in the past and the novelty wears off in .5 seconds. So a couple years ago my oldest two started really understanding the concept of work=money . . . and would daily ask me if there was something they could do to earn some cash. I was not prepared so finally, I sat down - broke down the chores I'd be willing and thrilled to hand over - and assigned them a monetary value . . . then made each into a magnet - so WHENEVER a child wants money - they can go to the board and decide what they want to do and how much they will get for it. Take the magnet off when it's complete and stick it on their own personal magnet board. Before we put this system into effect, I took the oldest two through a "training session" where they cleaned with me - and I showed them exactly what I meant and expected with each chore. It took most of the day, and they didn't get paid for it. So . . . since then, there have been dry spells and days of torrential rain in their desires to do chores - but I am more than happy with this system. If ever there's a day I feel the grime creeping up on me . . . I make of row of the chore magnets I want done and tell them "this row HAS to be done today - you guys decided how to divide it up!" And it gets done. They get paid. Everyone's happy!
Now that my youngest two are old enough to see the benefit of chores, I made them each a magnet board too. They have started "training" with the older kids and I use the "Parent Assignment" chore magnets creatively. I also had to make a larger chore board because we've added more chores, increased the number of "Parent Assignment" magnets etc . . . I may weed them out some, they just seem to overwhelm the cute board!!!!
ANYWAY - with a minor facelift, the chore system has become fresh again and the kids are doing a great job. I love it!!!
I'm trying to figure out if I want to do something like this to sell on my Etsy shop - I just haven't decided 1-If it'd be worth the cost/time 2-How to do a "custom" set with main board and personalized chore boards 3-WHEN I'd have time to throw in making a few between other projects! Regardless - I LOVE MINE!!!
