Handling Chores in Our Home

We don't have them. What?! Let's define chores: a task, a routine or troublesome one. Wow! No wonder my kids didn't want to do them. They are negative by the very nature of the word. Why do we have kids doing chores anyway? Our mom's did all the housework when we grew up right?


Not in my mom's house. We had "chores" like drying dishes, vacuuming, cleaning my room, putting dirty clothes in the hamper, hanging clothes on the line outside, bringing them in and folding all of them, taking care of our dog and what she left in the yard, pulling weeds and harvesting the veggies in the garden, cleaning the pool, sweeping the floors. We mowed the yard, but got paid for that one. There was no allowance for "chores" in our house growing up. Mowing was a job, therefore we were paid.


Come to think of it we did a lot in our house as kids. I guess the difference was that all my friends had chores too, so it was nothing new. Today, that is a different story! Our kids think they can sit on their rears and watch us do all the work. Ah, nope. But... we don't do chores either.

Stella and Jo-Jo playing a game

My children have what we call a Morning Routine each day. It covers the things they need to do to take care of themselves and their chosen animal. This routine is completed before breakfast (except 1).


Get Dressed
Make Bed
Brush hair
Brush Teeth (actually done after breakfast)
Feed & water animals


Let's see what is it that our children have to have, as the law might say, Food, water, blanket, pillow, a few outfits, shoes, maybe a brush or tooth brush, school supplies (negotiable), and a few other things. My point is that going out to eat, having desserts and snacks, tons of toys, allowances, extracurricular activities are some of the things they don't "have to" have. They are Privileges.

In our home, my children have the privilege of living in a nice house, big enough to fit us comfortably. They have their own things, toys, desks, beds, bikes, sporting equipment and opportunities that we bring them too. Homeschool Group, church functions, parties, etc. In order for them to continue these extra privileges, they need to be contributing to the family that makes them possible.

If mom and dad are doing all the work, there really is no time for any of those privileges. We sat down and explained this to the kids, and they each have an equal share of contributing to the family as I will list here in a minute. Let's define Contribute: to give a share to or participate in; to bring together or unite, collect. Ah, now that is a better way to visualize the things we need to do together as a family for our home. We have chickens, rabbits, cats and a dog. They need to be cared for or we can't keep them. We have a nice house, to keep it nice we need to take care of it. We all enjoy these things, so we all need to help maintain them. 

Jo-Jo (in blue) with friends at Awana Bible Quiz 2010

Family Contributions for our family...

Jo-Jo (13)

Before Breakfast
Give water to the chickens

After School

Clean school desk
Collect Eggs (after 2)
Sweep dining room & living room

Stella measuring up to our enormous Suflower

Clean Bedroom

Clean surface areas of the bathroom (counters, mirrors, floor, outside of toilet)
Empty Dishwasher (Wed and Sat)
Help mom with dinner (1 week per month)

After Dinner

Clear & Wipe table & counter load dishwasher
Put leftovers away
Wash Dishes
Put Dirty Clothes in Laundry
Put your own Clean Laundry Away
Sort Laundry (only fold your own clothes)


Scoop chicken Coop if needed (Sat)
Complete schoolwork (Mon - Fri)

Stella (8)

Stella after dance program

Before Breakfast
Give water to the Rabbits


After Lunch
Clear & wipe table & counter. load dishwasher

After School
Clear rabbit poop from hutch if needed
Dust 1 room each day
Sweep Playroom
Clean school desk
Clean bedroom
Empty Dishwasher (Mon and Thurs)

Help mom cook dinner (1 week per month)

After Dinner
Dry Dishes
Put Dirty laundry in hamper
Sort clean laundry (only fold your own clothes)
Put laundry away

Complete schoolwork (Mon - Fri)

Spidey at Cub Scout Family Camp

Spidey (7)
 
Before Breakfast
Give food and water to the cat


After Breakfast
Clear & wipe table, load dishwasher

After School
Clean kitty litter
Tidy Laundry room & sweep
Sweep Kitchen
Clean school desk
Clean bedroom
Take out Trash
Empty Dishwasher (Tue and Fri)

Help mom cook dinner (1 week per month)

After Dinner

Brie hugging her kittens

Put Dishes away (with Red)
Put Dirty laundry in hamper
Sort clean laundry (only fold your own clothes)
Put laundry away

Complete schoolwork (Mon - Fri)

Red (5) (with help from mom and siblings)

Before Breakfast
Give food and water to the dog

After School
Clean surprises the dog leaves in laundry room as needed

Tidy Front door area where shoes & coats are kept

Sweep hallway & stairs
Clean school desk

Red - at soccer (goalie)

Clean bedroom
Take out recycling

Help mom cook dinner (1 week per month)

After Dinner
Put Dishes away (with Spidey)

Put Dirty laundry in hamper
Sort clean laundry (only fold your own clothes)
Put laundry away

Complete schoolwork (Mon - Fri)

Stells & Red at the park

Dad

Head of House
Master Electrician - at work (6am - 4pm)
Farmer - Feeds chickens & rabbits
Launder - washes the laundry when mom doesn't get to it (often, most of the time)  I love him!
Landscape Artist - waters gardens in evening, mows, weed eats
Carpenter - builds whatever we need
Jack of all Trades - fixes all the things we break, anything that really has to do with outside the house
HVAC guy - installs & uninstalls air conditioners
Assistant Scoutmaster for Boy Scouts but also takes Spidey to Cub Scouts & activities with that

I don't think I can put all the things my husband contributes to this family in words. He does whatever needs to be done. I would not be able to do this without him. But you get the idea. Just showing some ways he contributes to the family even outside of being the provider of our income.

Mom

Cook - Prepares meals

Our carrot & a chicken

Manager of our home - make sure the kids are behaving and doing what the should be, character training the kids
Organizer - Makes a monthly menu
Food shopping (with 4 kids most of the time)
Researcher - foods (whether we can or can't have them), homeschool materials etc.
Spiritual head of house
Taxi - church, activities, sports, soon to be American Heritage Girls

Teacher - we homeschool
Accountant - pays the bills (yuk!)
Maid - cleans toilets & shower, mops and waxes floors, picks up debris all over the house, cooks, bakes

I think it is hard to put what mom does into words too. We as parents do whatever we have to do, to get it all done. Even the kids do much more than what is on their list by volunteering to help out around the house. Especially if Rita's Italian Ice is on the menu...lol

Donut, one of our rabbits

Does my family LOVE to do family contributions? Nope. But they understand that things must be done and to enjoy all the blessings that God has chosen to give us. We need to be glad and rejoice in the Lord for those things as we work. We usually will blast the radio as we work and sing through the morning. It lightens things up a bit. 

As far as allowances go, we do give our kids a weekly allowance. The allowance is based on what we think they can handle. Not too much that they can buy a video game every week, but enough for them to buy a little something, or save up for that video game. We use this opportunity to teach them to tithe, save and how to spend wisely.

After a day of strawberry picking for homemade jam

Jo-Jo - $6
Stella - $4
Spidey - $4
Red - $4

We do have some rules

Spending:

1. Mom approves item before purchase, until they know what they can and can't buy (example: no candy, movies, Rate M games - stuff like that)

2. If mom is not with them and they have to ask whether they can or can't buy something, the answer is NO. Wait until mom is there if you are unsure, to keep from wasting money on something you are not allowed to have. Mom will take it.

3. There is NO borrowing money, from anyone. Mom does not loan money, nor friends, dad or siblings. If you do not have the money on your person, you do not have any money. Don't ask.

4. You are responsible for your own money. If you are careless and lose it, mom does not replace it.


Giving :  at least 10% (tithe). if you want to give more, that's fine.

Saving: Jo-Jo picked $1.50 to save, so at least $1.50 each week goes in a "save" bank.

If you would like information on getting a Family Contribution chart for your home, check out  this blog from Confessions of a Homeschooler. I got my chore chart from there. I also got some other ideas from Erica that I will expand on in another post.

Then I converted our chore chart to a Family Contribution Chart after watching the Positive Parenting Solutions sessions. The PPS is a program that I bought a few months ago to better understand my kids and what they were trying to say with their "behavior". I found out a lot about me and my kids. It has truly been a blessing to have in my home.

Hope all this information helps your family find common ground on contributing the functionality of your household. If this has been a blessing to you, please pass it on to others.