When Tucker was THREE he had a list of chores which were his responsibility on 'Cleaning Day.' I don't mean just getting dressed and brushing his teeth. I mean REAL jobs HE took care of while other, bigger cleaning jobs were being done in the house.
When he was three, Tucker:
Distributed rolls of toilet paper to each of the bathrooms
Put out clean hand towels in the bathrooms
Lined up his shoes in his closet
Put his dirty clothes in the laundry room
Brought the trash cans from the other rooms in the house to the big trash can in the garage
Put napkins in the napkin holder in the kitchen
and
Unloaded his Sippy cups and plastic plates from the dishwasher and put them into the basket on the bottom shelf in the cabinet in the kitchen (I'd already taken everything else out of the dishwasher, so this was a safe task).
These were his jobs until he was about five. Then they became Tatum's jobs when she was three, and he advanced to other tasks. The Twins inherited the same jobs when they were three--I even added a few more to the list, because there were two of them to split the work.
My point? Well, today is a summer FRIDAY...which means it's "You've Played, Now You Work Day!" I know in most cases, playing is the REWARD and work is accomplished
first...and sometimes that's the way it works around here, but I have found (with
these specific kids, after almost 14 years of growing up with me), I can count on them to work. I know they will do the jobs I assign. They are reliable. They know they HAVE to do their jobs, so I let them play...then work. As long it keeps running smoothly, with no complaints or [much] procrastinating, I'll let them play for the first part of the week, and work on Fridays. It's right there on the calendar in the kitchen, so they know it's coming. They know on Game Day (Monday), they'll be cleaning on Friday. They know on Movie Day (Tuesday), they'll be cleaning on Friday. So it's Friday! LET'S CLEAN!
Here's how it works..I have a list I put on the frig of "extra" jobs the kids can
choose to do [during the week], to earn more tv and screen time. I have a little bag filled with buttons and each kid has an envelope with their name on it. For each task they volunteer for (and then complete), they get a button, for 30 minutes of extra screen time. These can be saved up, or used the day they are earned. All week, at any time, they can choose a task, put their initials on the list and DO the task...earning tv time. On Thursday night, I ASSIGN the
remaining tasks on the list, to be done Friday morning at 10am. If I have to
assign a task from the list--they do not get the extra tv time the task
would have earned if someone had
volunteered to do it during the week. This week, voluntarily, Tucker did 2 jobs, Tatum did 4, Haily did 1 and Paige did 2...which means they each earned some extra time. There were about six jobs left on the list, so this morning, I assigned them.
In addition, because it's Friday, after lunch, we will work for one hour to clean the house. I set a timer for an hour and give each child a list of jobs, based on their age and experience. Based on what they're good at....and what they tend to
avoid. Each child gets a job they DON'T like to do, but the rest of the list is made up of things they're good at and would typically be ok with doing anyway. We work for one hour. At the end of the hour, the timer goes off, and we're done...finished...no more cleaning. If they get finished with their list early, they come to me and I give them one more task, then they're free to hang out in their rooms or play outside. Usually, we have an unhealthy snack when our hour is up! What doesn't get finished (if anything), will be added to the Weekly Job List for next week, which they can volunteer to do for extra TV time. Get it?
There is also a list of
Daily Jobs for the kids. The same jobs for every day (m-f) of the week, but each week, I change WHO does the jobs. This list includes:
Unloading the dishwasher in the morning
Re-loading the dishwasher after meals
Clearing and wiping down the table after each meal
Assistant to Mom for AM (Different asst for PM)
Pick up kids' stuff at night
Hand-wash dishes (as needed)
Nightly trash out
The
Weekly Jobs List for TV Time, is filled with real jobs. Things like (but not limited to):
Strip all 5 beds in the house
Wash all bedding (2 loads)
Sweep the patio and wipe off the patio furniture
Clean out the van
Sweep and Swiffer the kitchen
Clean out/organize the broom closet
Clean out the kitchen cabinets (2 cabinets for 30 min. tv)
Do a load of laundry start-to-finish (wash, dry, fold, distribute)
Clean the front windows of the house
Sanitize ALL the door knobs and cabinet handles in the entire house
Organize the pantry
Clean the microwave and frig
Organize Pool bag with clean towels, goggles, sunscreen etc
The
Friday Hour of Cleaning takes care of the following tasks:
Dust the living room
Dust dining room
Sweep all hard-wood floors
Dust all blinds in the house
Vacuum all rugs and area rugs
Fold and distribute and remaining laundry
Clean bathrooms
Wipe Down Kitchen Counters
Rid frig of leftovers
Empty all trash cans
AND
Make sure all kid clutter is out of the common areas of the house
Today, I asked each child how they think
they will handle house-cleaning when they're grown up. Each of them said they'll have their children do the work, when their kids are old enough for the responsibilities. Tucker remembers doing his jobs when he was little. He said it was fun to do those jobs then, and it makes it easier to do the work now. They like that I divide it between all the kids (it helps that there are so many of them). They really like only having to work for one hour. They like the timer. "ONE hour of cleaning, in a week? That's very do-able." [Tucker]
Mom Thought: I am so glad I started giving out jobs and responsibilities when they were young. It takes
TIME to think of jobs they
can do. It takes
TIME to teach them how to do a task, It takes
TIME to check on their work, re-teach them how to do it and hold them to a fair standard of what they can really be expected to do. It all takes
TIME. An investment of MY time. An investment of
me. I could just do it all myself (seriously?). I could get frustrated with the amount of work (and mess) 4 children create. But...I am the mom. I am their mother. And, I am raising grown-ups. The pay-off now, for all the
TIME I put in, in the early, pre-school years has paid off
time-and-time again.