Chore system

We run a tight ship around here...can't you tell by this picture of my 15 month old?  He's gotta get his chores done before his friends come over.  Bahaha!!!  He is obsessed with cleaning, taking his diaper to the outside trash and anytime he hears a vacuum he comes running and grabs it until you surrender!  It's pretty stinkin' cute.  We'd like to think he's going to be super responsible when he's older because he is right now!

We have a chore chart with the basics, clean room, make bed, get dressed, brush teeth, read a book, 5 fruits and veggies, 30 minutes physical activity, 2 hrs or less of T.V and/or the iPad etc.  Things they have to do daily to pull their weight around here.  And they love checking these chores off on their charts.  After they have done these things, they can do "money chores".

I got the idea from two awesome parenting books!  'The Entitlement Trap' and 'The Parenting Breakthrough'.  My kids want things and I want to give them things but I don't want them to feel entitled or feel like we as parents owe them.  And are you sick and tired of your kids not taking care of the things you buy them?  What parent isn't?   These two books help break it all down and how ownership is the antidote to entitlement and the prerequisite to responsibility.  That children through participation in a home based infrastructure of family laws and traditions, can feel a secure sense of belonging and equity in their family.  I just started reading both books the last few months and will go back and re-read many times I'm sure to burn it in my memory because it all makes sense and this is how I want to raise my kids.  Do you think I have too high of hopes?  Maybe, but I'm willing to let the experts lead me!

Money chores are anything extra around the house.  So you can get an idea of how much we pay, Alex got $2 for vacuuming the main floor but that included the hardwood floor too and she got another $2 for washing it.  It's not too much but just enough incentive to do the work with a smile.  Also, I don't like washing the floors so I pay a little more so she'll do it for me!  I pay .25 a room for wiping the baseboards, they get so dusty!  I payed Sam .75 for dusting the main floor, you get the idea.  You are the one who sets the price but don't overpay your kids to give them a skewed sense of earning money. Of course, this would also be adjusted for age too.  I can't imagine a 15 yr old doing  baseboards for .25!  

Anytime someone empties the garbage cans he has runs and latches his little hand onto the bin until you surrender it also or he walks with you holding onto it!  Again, pretty cute huh!  Just for kicks, we started keeping a tally of Noah's money chores, yesterday he made .75!  I'm not paying him as much as his older sisters.


I'd love to hear what system works in your family, as a non-seasoned mom I'm open to new ideas and like a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  But I will say, I LOVE 'The Entitlement Trap' and I think you will too!

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                                                                 Melanie