Lately I have been thinking about chores. Or rather, "family jobs" or "family work" — the term "chores" sounds so… tedious, to me. My girls are at an age where they really can start helping with things more, and I need to figure out a system and routine that is easy to manage, keeps things fun (wishful thinking?), and builds into our lives so that it is just an expected, and accepted, thing. I’d love to not have to nag or cajole, or even remind my girls about doing their jobs (though I think reminders will probably be needed for quite awhile yet). I know that any new routine will take time, and I want to make sure we approach and frame it in the right way.
There are a few things I have in mind about jobs. This post, "Children and Chores" by Jaime over at Steady Mom was helpful in getting me thinking about this topic. I like the idea of "job time" where everyone in the family is doing their jobs at the same time, though I am not sure that will work or not, given the specific jobs. I love this idea from Soule Mama – a "family board" with cards for jobs and a pocket for each child. I think rotating fairly often would be good too keep boredom away, but not TOO often (so they can get into a routine and learn to master it, and also so I don’t have to negotiate/manage it all the time). Maybe once a week, new job? Maybe longer?
I also don’t want it connected to money. I do like the idea of giving the girls a weekly allowance, perhaps soonish (small amounts, obviously!), and I might consider them taking on "extra" jobs for money as they get older, but some amount of daily or weekly work is just part of being in the family.
Here are some of my ideas so far for possible family jobs. I do already have the expectation that all kids (to varying degrees) clear own plates and dishes to kitchen counter (the little ones are juuuuust starting this, and still sometimes dump food all over themselves or the floor, haha), put away shoes and coats into their own cubbies, and pick up toys. The latter one in particular does NOT happen all the time, but it is an expectation, at the very least.
2 year olds:
- sort laundry into piles by person/type
- put away silverware & kids dishes from dishwasher
- wash tables or chairs, walls or spots on the floor
- sweep (they are not effective, but at least try!)
- get out kids dishes for setting table? Setting table for kids meals? This might be above them, not sure.
- what else? There’s got to be something?
4 year old (those mentioned above, plus):
- sort laundry (colors/whites before washing, or by type when folding)
- fold certain laundry (towels, own clothes, socks, etc)
- put away some laundry (kitchen items and own clothes)
- unload/put away low dishes in dishwasher
- set table (dinner, and/or lunch…?)
- get glasses, pour milks or waters for meal
- clear table
- wash/wipe down table
- sweep kitchen floor
- empty waste baskets? (not gross garbage yet though, heh)
- clean sink and counter (with safe/non-toxic cleaners)
- help unpack & sort or put away groceries
Writing it out, I see that I have lots of ideas for the 4 year old, but not so many for the little ones! I do feel like I find things they can do throughout the day, but regular, assigned daily or weekly chores are feeling harder to think up. I don’t think they need to have a huge list, though. They will each be responsible for only one (or possibly two) "family jobs" at a time.
Whatever we do, I don’t want Emma to resent that she is doing more work than the little ones (I think she often feels this already), but at the same time, I do think with age comes responsibility AND privileges, so we’ll see. I need to work on highlighting the privileges, perhaps. We may also have to tread lightly and ease into it until Elsie and Delia are 3 or 4, and able to do more of their share. But, as with all things, I think its good to start early and build a framework that we can add to and tweak, as they get older.
Do your kids have jobs, yet? How do you manage it? What would you add to my lists? I’d love some more ideas!
Related posts:
Yay for Family Chores! We did ours every Saturday morning growing up, and had a trip to the donut store or to get a candy bar afterwards. We also had allowance ($2/week or something). It worked really well, I think.
We haven’t started official chores/jobs here yet, but the boys still think that cleaning is fun, and I want to keep it that way for as long as possible. As for the 2 year olds, Torin is very capable of watering flowers/pots, putting things in the garbage, putting his own dishes into the dishwasher after dinner, cleaning up toys, cleaning up messes on the floor with a rag, or cleaning the floor with a spray bottle and rag. I don’t think it’s too far off for him to start putting his own clothes in his drawer, though I worry they’ll become unfolded in the process.