My back is currently spazzing out and I'm spending some time in the below pictured environment. We are having guests over tomorrow and I can't do much to prepare the house which could be a disaster if I were the only one who knew what needed to be done, but I'm not.
All of my children help with the household chores and if they do them each day our house will be relatively clean and in decent order. There are still those things that only a woman's touch can take care of but I can safely go to bed for a few days to rest without having piles of laundry and dishes to tackle when I'm better.
Below is our little chore center. One clip holds the weekly zone cleaning which I will take care of. These are the extra jobs that need to be done in each part of the house once a month, such as, washing windows, a really good vacuum, or getting at those cobwebs. My children can do many of these jobs also and I will ask them for help when I need it.
One clip holds the chore lists for the children. Each child has a list including our two year old. The chores on their lists are vacuuming, dusting, wiping appliances, cleaning the bathroom, cleaning their bedrooms, etc. Each child is also in charge of one room. They have to make sure everyone collects their belongings each day and do any little extra jobs like sweeping to keep it reasonably tidy. The children also do the dishes. I have six children who are capable of helping in the kitchen so this isn't a lot of work for them! My nine year old is in charge of the chickens and receives twenty five cents per dozen eggs for taking care of them. I have also taught the children how to cook and they handle their breakfast and lunch each day and even dinner more often than I want to admit. They like cooking and feel priveledged when they are old enough to join the kitchen crew.
The third and fourth clips hold their paychecks and their earnings statements. I mark off one point for each of four categories for each day. They earn one point each for school, chores, getting along with others, and picking up the house. I award extra points if they do extra work. Each point is worth five minutes of wii or computer time. They may spend thirty minutes per day.
And this last picture I threw in for fun. We are in the middle of renovations and started a graffiti wall on this unfinished area. Gumby, a plastic snake, and little plastic men have been by to visit. Right now a frog from my son's birthday card is hanging out to make us smile and not worry about all the work we need to do to our house.
I'm including this article in the next issue of the Christian Home Magazine. You can find it at Mrs. White's blog along with daily encouragement for homemakers. If you would like to join in the fun of writing for the magazine click on the button below.
