Assigning responsibilities and chores to your children has many benefits. For starters, it teaches them valuable skills they are gonna need when they grow up, such as caring for themselves. It also teaches them to appreciate all the work that goes into maintaining a clean and organized home.
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I wanted to find a way to begin having my children do chores without having to battle them to do chores, so I came up with a chore reward system. Their reward? books! Why I love this:
1. It motivates children to complete chores.
2. Gets children excited about books
3. Gets them reading.
I picked age-appropriate chores. Before we began our new system, I talked to them and explained why they needed to do chores. I explained that we all live in the same house and if we all chipped in, in addition to living in a clean and organized home, we would be able to spend more time having fun-filled family time.
Making their beds, cleaning up after their meals, putting away their laundry, and picking up their toys are all chores that I deemed would make every day tidying up a lot easier if my children learned to do for themselves.
Additionally, I have them help with cleaning the bathroom, specifically the toilet. I decided I wanted them to help clean the toilet so that they would see how dirty the outside parts of the toilet can get when they don't aim right. Honestly, it worked! My boys thought it was very disgusting to wipe around the toilet to clean up their pee mess, and so they started making sure not to splash out.
Why should children do chores?
Because doing chores will teach them basic life skills such as how to care for themselves, their home, and their family.
After deciding what chores they would be responsible for, I needed to decide how many points each chore was worth and how many points they needed in order to earn their new book. As I mentioned earlier, there are four chores I wanted to begin with. These are:
1. Making their bed.
2. Cleaning up after their meal.
3. Putting away their laundry.
4. Putting away their toys.
5. Help with cleaning the bathroom
Each chore will be worth 1 point. When they reach 100 points, they will have earned their book reward. If they already have a book in mind, I make sure the book is within a certain price range. If they don't have a specific book in mind, I get to surprise them with a book I believe they will enjoy.
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How I save Money on Books:
Purchase books from the dollar tree. I have been pleasantly surprised by their selections. They have a good selection of books with children's favorite characters.
Use Fetch Rewards to earn points in order to redeem Amazon gift cards. It is so easy to earn points using Fetch Rewards. Just scan your receipts, any receipt! For each receipt, you will earn at least 25 points.
Click this link here to download the Fetch Rewards App. Use code E1UQN9 and you'll get 2000 points, which are worth $2 in Fetch rewards when you scan your first receipt.
I usually purchase books from amazon because amazon has very competitive prices. I can also read book reviews and make decisions on whether the book is worth it or not.
The books don't have to even be purchased, they could cost you zero dollars just by borrowing them from the library.
Our Chores Explained:
Making their Beds
A simple chore that helps kids build a sense of responsibility. It helps them build a habit of getting things done. I taught my 8-year-old how to make his bed. After a couple of days of making the bed together, he started making his bed as soon as he woke up. My 4-year-old, who sleeps in a regular-size twin bed, still needs a little help making his bed.
Cleaning Up After Their Meals
Another simple task that children can begin taking responsibility for. In our case, I decided to begin with just having them scrape off the crumbs of food from their plates and place the plate in the sink. After some time doing this, and when I believe they are ready for more responsibility, I will have them wash their own plates.
Putting Away Their Laundry
Most average households have the dreaded pile of laundry lying around, just waiting to be folded and put away. Most of us lead very busy lives, and it's near impossible for one person to be left alone to fold and put away the laundry of a house that has at least 3 people living in it. In our case, the majority of the problem lies in not having enough time to fold AND put away all of it.
My solution was to get to smaller laundry baskets, such as this one, one for each child. Once their clothes are folded, and each in the kid's laundry basket, they had to put it away. I make sure to place each laundry basket in front of their beds.
Putting Away Their Toys
Another common household problem is that if you have kids, you probably have a daily display of toys lying around somewhere in the house. My toddler loves to dump toys all over the place.
If kids are made to pick up after their messes, then they will be less inclined to make the mess in the first place. My solution is to have them pick up their toys as soon as they are done playing with them, and no screen time unless the toys are picked up.
Help With Cleaning the Bathroom
As I mentioned earlier, having little boys in the house means the bathroom can get pretty nasty. My solution was to have them clean the toilets, so they can see the mess they leave behind when they are not careful.
I didn't want them touching the regular toilet brushes or dealing with the liquid toilet cleaning chemicals. So, I ordered Clorox cleaning wands. What I like is that it doesn't have a strong chemical smell, and it doesn't require cleaning afterward. It's so easy! For around the toilet bowl, I have them use the Clorox wipes with gloves on.
As they learn, grow, and develop, I will continue to add to their responsibilities. For now, these are, in my opinion, great ways to start developing responsible children who in turn will turn into responsible adults who can look after themselves.
As promised, click here to download a free Points for Books Chore Chart for kids.