So I think its so important to teach kids the importance of work and contributing around the home, but I also think its important to teach them they have to work to get money and earn things and that things should not just be given to them The other thing I wanted was to limit my kids TV/video game time or at least make them earn it and I wanted to somehow connect all these things together. So, I've been searching for the perfect job chart system. In all my searching I couldn't find what I wanted, I found some cute things along the way that could help with it, but I decided to come up with my own system. So here it is:
When I was a child my mom had this circle wheel thing that hung in our kitchen that was a rotating job chart and each week my siblings and I would be in charge of a different room for the week and then she would rotate the wheel and we would have a different room the next week. During the week we were responsible for keeping that room straight and then on Saturday we were to super clean that room. If we had the yard that meant weeding, cleaning up dog poop and being in charge of taking out the trash. I knew I wanted to do the same type of thing. I feel my house is messy all the time and I can't keep up. My kids are getting old enough where they need and should help with this chaos. So I didn't make the wheel thing like my mom had, but I found this idea off Pinterest for a Family Chore Chart at Super Saturday Crafts and made one myself and changed it a little bit to make it how I wanted it to work.
But just that wasn't going to do the trick, having them be in charge of cleaning on room a week, was not all that I wanted them to do. There are things that I want them to get in the habit of doing like saying their prayers, reading scripture, making their beds, brushing their teeth, cleaning their rooms, etc. So I found this handy dandy chore chart printable at Pinch A Little Save-a-lot. I liked it because I could input each of my kids names on them and customize the chores to each kid.
Here is my son Brock's chart, so each item he would do each day he would put a check mark. If you notice on there is "Weekly Job Chart Chore", when they straighten the room they are in charge of for the week they could check it off here. I put the charts in page protectors, that way we could wipe the chart clean each week. Now comes my points/ reward system, which might seem a little complicated but this is what has made this whole system. So, for every check mark my kids get they get a point. Each week I count the number of check marks on their personal chore chart and then I transfer the points to a white board we have in our laundry room and I wipe their personal chart clean to start a new week.
See, points written on white board (my son thought his baby brother should get points too, that is why his name is added to the board, but since he's only 18 months he's exempt from this system for now ;) ). So what do we do with the points you ask? Well the points can work two ways. First they can use the points for money to earn allowance, it took me awhile to figure out how much each point should be worth (and you could decide whatever you want for your family), but for mine we decided that each point is worth 5 cents. That way if they did all their chores each week they could average around $3 a week (my kids are 9 and under so I thought this was age appropriate). My goal was to give them allowance each week. Sometimes there is a bigger gap and they get it once a month (that's because mom usually doesn't have cash on hand). The 2nd way they can use their points is for TV/video game/computer time, I decided for every 1/2 hour of electronic time that would cost them 15 points. For movies I made it an even 45 points, figuring most movies are about an hour and a half. I do allow them 1 free hour on the weekends (mainly for Saturday mornings so they aren't waking me up, when I want to sleep in) and they get one free movie on the weekend too. This system has totally motivated my kids to do their chores. Both my boys want a DS, I personally do want my kids to have them, I won't buy them for gifts, I tell Santa he's not aloud to get them one, but I told them I can't stop them from buying one with their own money (though the points system still applies to them playing those), so this has totally got them on board to doing their chores. The nice thing is when I want extra things done around the house, or if I want the car cleaned out or I'm too lazy to run upstairs to get the baby the diaper I can just ask them too and offer them points for doing so. So they can earn extra points on top of their regular everyday chores. Today I wanted my kitchen cupboards wiped down, I offered them 20 points if they did and they were all over that. It truly has been a successful system for our family. Hope that it can help you out.
(NOTE: so my 4 year old wasn't grasping or getting excited about the whole money thing and points for TV time so I had to find some other motivation, so what I have done is I bought a couple of toys and wrote down the number of points it will cost for her to get that toy. So a $10 toy would be 200 points being that each point is 5 cents and I've put them in a clear box, so she can see whats inside so she is motivated to do chores. So whenever she fights me on cleaning her room I say, "Don't you want that Lala loopsy doll in the box? You can't get it without earning points." This has totally worked on her.)
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