Ed and I have been pondering the idea of chores or responsibilities. It is hard as a parent to decide on how you want to set up these values in your household. We have been wanting to get Charley more involved in some of the responsibilities around the house yet keep it age appropriate. We didn't want to offer rewards but rather teach the importance of helping the family in our day to day life. So this morning, now that he is four, Charley and I sat down and talked about things he "Could" do to help around the house. These could be jobs that he could help with. I also explained that now that he is four there were a few jobs that mama and daddy wanted him to do every day. So we started with those:
1. Put his clothes in the hamper.
2. Brush his teeth in the morning.
3. Clean up food under his chair after breakfast.
4. Clean up food under his chair after lunch.
5. Clean up food under his chair after dinner.
6. Get dressed with a smile on his face.
He was excited about all of these. I wrote them on the backside of some smile cards. He colored the cooresponding picture that I tried to draw. He worked very hard. Then we talked about other things he could do if he felt helpful. I actually had a list already to go from but I wanted him to feel involved. He was super excited and worked very hard to color each picture. I have never seen him use colors to decorate little items so nicely. We had nice chats.
So the deal: After he does a job he flips over the card so that the family can see how helpful he is during the day. Charley thought he could do his 6 "Have to" chores plus 2 other chores everyday..but he could do more. I am really excited to see how this goes. There is no talk of rewards at this point but I am guessing at some point the excitement over this could go away...in which case my plan is to have experiences be the rewards...like extra time at night with daddy or playing a game with mommy and daddy. We'll see how this goes. There is plenty of room for growth, improvement, and challenges if needed. Any other ideas? What do you do with your kids?
Posts
1 comment:
AWESOME Sarah - obviously you used to teach primary! I love it though and how tangible it is with turning the cards over. What other jobs did he come up with? Now you'll have to remember to stay on it and praise, praise, praise so he stays excited! What a good idea. Maybe we'll steal it when Braden turns 4.
Post a Comment