Mean Ol' Mom

That would be me. The mean old mom thing. Just ask my children.

Or don't. I don't really want to know the truth on this one.

This week our responsibility charts are back in use!!! I'm excited. They? Not so much.

For a couple months now those responsibility charts created by Melissa & Doug have been hanging in their spots just waiting for some use. I've been 'too busy' to implement them into our daily lives.

However, I've been growing increasingly tired of just handing out random jobs. They know what jobs are a given.

Every day they make their beds, get dressed, brush teeth, feed animals, pick up toys and get ready for bed. Addie also washes dishes every day after lunch and Will cleans up the puppy piles every afternoon. Can't say that they really enjoy doing their jobs, but I believe whole-heartedly that jobs at this age are vital for teaching responsibility.

We want them to learn now, at 4 1/2 and 6 years old, that they can contribute to keeping the home running smoothly. For a while I tried to do it all myself. It was easier than asking the children to do it and then dealing with the complaining and whining.

Now? I've decided that I only stress myself out when I try to do it all myself. One person can only do so much.

For several mornings now they have been checking their charts to see what their jobs for the day are going to entail. They love to put up the smiley face magnets declaring that the job is finished. They love to be praised for doing a job well done. They love it.

That is not to say that they love doing the jobs themselves. The whining is still abundant, but we're working on that!!

Every day they have a 'help with indoor chores' job. I didn't like that one. That means that every day I have to come up with something for them to do. I get stuck in ruts.

Sunday night while I was rocking JN to sleep I was skimming through a book that I have read many times before and it finally hit me. Like a brick.

The book is called "Cleaning up the Clutter" (Ironically, the flood clean-up crew, who cleaned up our mess of a house while we were in Russia, found the book shoved under the couch in a water logged mess. How's that for some clutter?!) by Emilie Barnes. One chapter she has is called 'jobs for kids'. That drew me in.

I flipped there quickly...as quickly as you can flip the pages of a book that has been water logged...and proceeded to read the job lists that are age appropriate.

Three-year-old
1. Get dressed, put pajamas away
2. Brush hair
3. Brush teeth
4. Make bed
5. Fold clothes and small items
6. Empty dishwasher
7. Clear meal dishes
8. Empty wastebaskets
9. Pick up toys before bed

Five-year-old
1. Set table
2. Clean bathroom sink
3. Help clean and straighten drawers and closets
4. Clean up after pet
5. Walk dog
6. Dust furniture in room
7. Vacuum room
8. Help put groceries away

Seven-year-old
1. Empty garbage
2. Sweep walks
3. Help in kitchen after dinner
4. Do schoolwork
5. Help make lunch for school
6. Clean out car
7. Iron flat items

Eight-year-old
1. Wash bathroom mirrors
2. Wash windows
3. Wash floors in small area
4. Polish shoes

(All lists taken from book, pages 79-81)

Those lists made me think of the 'help with indoor chores' job. Which made me think of the bowl of jobs that my mom always had when I was a little girl. Which made me think that maybe something like that could work at our house.

Duh.

I frequently get in a stew on Saturdays because there is so much to do. Clean the house, pick up our milk in town (we drink raw milk straight from a farm), iron clothes for Sunday, fix breakfast/lunch/supper, help Jason outside if he needs it. Busy day. Til bedtime on Saturdays I am typically whipped.

So the job bowl has been born at our house. Monday morning first thing I got busy. Every day the children and I will each draw one job from the bowl. In this way, the whole house will be cleaned every week. Not the whole thing all at once as I like, but at least at some point every thing will be clean.

I really am excited! To think that perhaps this little job bowl will help on the busy Saturday schedule is beyond releiving for me. I have resigned myself to the fact that the jobs may not be completed exactly as I would like. However, with me also drawing a job daily I should be able to hit every spot of the house every few weeks!!

There are a total of 21 jobs I believe. We will only draw jobs on Monday-Friday which means that there are six things that may not get done each week.

However, they just may get done. We have also implemented a new rule in our home. If whining/complaining is done when a job is to be completed, that child will have to draw another job to do as well. Whatever jobs are not completed by Friday night, I plan to do sometime Saturday.

I really am so excited!!! Why didn't I think of this months ago? The children seem to be so much happier and so much less bored when they have a purpose. Think about it. Wouldn't it be a tad boring to play with the same old toys day after day after day?! :)

Just helping them out here.

And lest you think that I am a horrid mom who makes my children slave all day long, I want you to know that there are two 'jobs' in the bowl that really aren't jobs at all.

One reads "Read a book with Mommy" and the other reads "Free time!! GO PLAY!!"

And one more thing. The jobs only take them about 20 minutes max. They should have plenty of time to play.

Don't ask them. They would likely disagree with that last statement.