Summer is an interesting time for the Beachy clan. Interesting and fun and chaotic and calm and busy and relaxing all in one. It has something to do with lack of schedule/dad being home all the time/vacations/swimming/late nights/too much ice cream etc... Now that school is just around the corner (11 days for the kids) we need to break into a familiar routine. A familiar routine that must include chores.
The problem with chores is that we have no familiar routine. We have not found a perfect or even almost perfect system. Here are our issues:
What chores are appropriate?
What chores should they be paid for and which ones are "just because you are a member of this family"?
How much should they get paid?
How often should they get paid: each day, once a week, once a month (with a "fill the jar with marbles fake payment" to hold them over)?
How do we get them all done once homework begins and bedtime returns to 7:00?
How do I get them to DO the chores without nagging, yelling or complaining (not that I would ever do that!)
Does anyone out there have any great ideas?
Science
8 years ago
2 comments:
no brilliant idea but i loved the way my parents did them with us and it's how we'll do it with our kids... every day we had "because you live in this house" unpaid chores like putting dirty clothes away, making the bed, etc. things that kept mom from doing EVERYTHING. then every sat morning before we could do anything else that day we had our list of chores. my mom changed this every week b/c she felt strongly that chores had to be a flexible part of life and she wanted us to also learn all the different parts of running a household. from folding laundry to dusting base boards to cleaning closets, etc. Until we were older (not sure of the ages) we got a dollar a week. and this is where the 3 jars came in that lived in the kitchen. we got our dollar in quarters and a quarter went in the church jar (which we shared), then fifty cents or half went in the bank jar (we each had one, hence the 3 jars). so we kept a quarter. that went in our room or wherever. until we left for college this was the rule. any allowance (that grew as we got older but always came in easily divided bills) or gift money or baby sitting money got divided. Half to the bank and 1/4 to church. By the time I was 18 I paid for my first year of college with what I had saved! The rest bought a car! Seriously! And I've tithed my OWN money since I was a kid so it's natural to keep going as an adult. I love how they wrapped SO many lessons into this one small act!
Just read this and I LOVE it!!!
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