Kids are home right now, right? Families are all together, and it’s exposing some issues for many of us. What are the most important things to get done around the house? What hasn’t been getting done around the house? Yikes. Time for a change, I think.
With five out of six girls being home, plus my husband, we are faced with doing things a little differently around here. I’ll give you a little peek into our lives right now.
Okay, so the dishes. They need to be done three times per day, right? Yup. So, because we have only five at home right now, we schedule two for breakfast and lunch, and then for supper, we have one older girl on dishes each night, with her sisters each taking a turn helping.
Kids are really into fairness, I’ve noticed! Haha.
The other chores, like bathrooms, vacuuming and neatening up are rotated between them. So, each time a chore is about to be done, they figure out amongst themselves who gets to do what. I don’t often interfere with this process. Of course, our kids are a little older (the youngest is 11), so they can figure things out for themselves.
As for the laundry, that is my domain! I like to be in control of how the washer and dryer are used, and also I really enjoy laundry.;) Laundry is satisfying. To take something dirty, and make it clean, smell nice and fold it neatly is just the best!
Now, about allowance. We have done allowance at different times, and also chosen not to do allowance. Right now is a “no allowance” time of life. For no particular reason, other than it costs extra money, and had become a bit of a right in their minds. We’ll reinstall it after a time, when we’re ready to apply the effort it takes to make a strict schedule for them and stick to it on our end as well as theirs. Not saying our kids don’t get treats. They do. And sometimes I will pay them for piecework.
A few weeks ago, I paid our 11 year old some money to scrub out a shower. It took her a while, but she was saving for a treat at the store, so she was willing to do the work. Maybe that is the way we’ll go for a time. Piecework. I think it takes less thought, and less supervision. They either do the work and get paid, or they don’t. Isn’t that how they’ll spend their adult life?
Maybe what I’ll do is put up a chart that has chores with price tags. They can choose whether they want to do the job or not. This is so funny! I’m actually figuring out what I need to do as I’m writing this and discussing it with you!
We’ve always needed our kids to help around the house. There are eight of us, after all. But, what if we’d had only two? When I did only have two, I was able to keep everything under control. I do believe that they would’ve had chores, though. We were raised to work as a family, so I doubt our kids would’ve sat on the couch.
It’s just something to think about. How to instil a sense of family togetherness when it comes to work. A sense of pride in a job well done, with a balance of reward.
I’m still learning on this journey of raising kids. I’m sure you are, too. If you have any great ideas for how you do chores in your family, comment below. I’d love to hear them!
Pin it for Later!
Want to get my FREE ebook, “5 of my Best Recipes”?
[mc4wp_form id=”2310″]
Hiya Jana!!
Here’s our current arrangement with chores and allowance: daily chores are beds, and 100% of supper cleanup. They take turns with the compost and garbages, and they help with shoveling (15 cms of WET, heavy snow today!!). Sometimes I’ll send them on errands, and often there are random extra chores scattered throughout the week. They are 100% responsible for their own laundry. They each clean a bathroom on Saturdays, and change their bedding every 2nd week. For this they get $14 and $12 per week, based on their age. I’ll occasionally pay extra for lawn mowing, but usually they’re not interested and I like the exercise…
I think this is helping them with saving and budgeting, but they don’t associate a specific dollar amount with each chore. We expect them to help out/contribute. And they do. One is a saver, and pretty flush. One flings money around like there’s no tomorrow. But both are very aware of their bank balances!!