Chores! - Farmington,NM

I do not know if this would work for you but what works in my house is that we ALL do our chores at the same time. So we have a set schedule of when we are ALL up moving getting our daily chores done.

To me, it makes it seem more fair and like everyone is doing their part/share when we are all UP and MOVING at the same time, ya know?

~At my house kids make their beds before school, before bed we do a 10 minute tidy as a family where everyone has a designated area and then on Saturday morning we ALL do a BIG clean...with all of us up and moving at once we can deep clean our whole house in about 1-1.5 hours and then the big cleaning for the week is done and the rest of the weekend is family time!
*Of course I have a lot more to do during the week and any given day but as *a family* this is what works for getting our chores done :)

I don't believe in rewarding for chores. I don't get a reward when I run laundry or mop the kitchen. You are right that if you train kids to need reminders, they'll continue to depend on them. Here, it's always been you do the jobs that are assigned or you're grounded. They learn pretty fast that way. Mine are 12 and 16.

When you figure this out, let me know!

In our house I write the chores for the day on a dry erase board. I gave up on chore charts because the chores vary from day to day. For example, the dishwasher doesn't need to be emptied every day. Sometimes laundry needs to be done. So I don't use chore charts or stickers.

My daughter checks off the chores as she does them. I check the chore and if it's okay then she can cross it off. When the chores are all done then she can watch TV, play Wii, etc.

Sometimes if she's moving slow I have to set a timer. That gets her more focused.

I don't do several reminders for chores. I do give a reminder to check the dry erase board.

I don't tie allowance with chores, since allowance isn't given until the end of the week it doesn't work for us. She needs immediate reward or consequence.

Lately my daughter has lost out on some fun privileges like playdates and outings because she didn't do her chores after being reminded several times. One time I caught her playing instead. These consequences have helped her to be more responsible.

I figure, she does need to be reminded and she needs a visual list since she is only 10. But once she knows WHAT to do, WHEN to do it and there isn't any question as to HOW, then it's her responsibility to earn a reward. We don't always give a consequence such as losing a privilege since she's just a kid and she isn't perfect. But she won't earn a reward like Wii time and the reason is there isn't "time" because she wasted it all. I hope it's as close to "natural consequence" as we can get.

It's not a perfect system so I'm looking forward to reading the other responses! But it works pretty good for us right now.

30 minutes sounds like a lot for that age child but if it works for you then it must be fine. I think that you are doing a good job with the rewards and stuff. They often do not respond to punishment over chores. That just makes the chores an association to punishment and they get a mind block on them.

I have younger kids so this may not work for you but I have "patrols". Kitchen, Dog, entryway, and bedroom. Everyone (including Daddy! :) ) must do bedroom patrol, but the others rotate weekly. For us, because our kids are young, there are only 4 jobs attached to each patrol that must be done daily. Here is the kicker though. I don't like giving "rewards" for stuff that needs to be done anyway. I tell the kids this is what we do because we are part of a family and we help each other keep a nice living place. We give the kids $15 a month as allowance. Each time a job is not done, the kids OWE me money. MAN they HATE to give money back!!! :) Has worked like a charm around here. Good luck!!

Allowance and chores are separate in my home. They will always get their allowance (not a crazy amount) because I did not want them thinking that you get allowance because you do your chores. Chores are responsibility. So what I do, example, I know it sounds nuts but what my kids love the most is staying up. So when it comes to what they don't do as far as chores, they lose minutes... Of sleep that is! They have some chores to be done every day, others once/twice a week. The everyday chores: if it's not done then 15 minutes for each chore not done to be enforced the next day. They also have a time they are supposed to go to sleep on weeknights so if hypothetically the minutes for one day are too much that time deducted for sleep gets rolled over to the following day! It works for me and they get their stuff done. From no more shoes on the floor, setting/clearing table, cleaning den, basement, etc. AND I haves chore board so I don't have to nag. They put stars to let them know they've done it. Me? I look to see If it's been done. No more nagging and chores get done :) PS. Kids are 11 & 8 and this way... THEY are in control of the time they go to sleep, when I take away the minutes they understand that because THEY didn't do what they're supposed to, leads to consequences (and it's not really a punishment because it was their choice whether or not they wanted to complete their chores)

I use the calendar.
You can look up in my answers how we divide chores. Essentially we have C for cat duties, D for dog duties, and K for kitchen duties in three different colors, one for each child. CDK in their colors are written on the calendar through Dec 31.
I look at th ecalendar, say _________ you're on cat, today I also need the hallway vauumed.
On sarturdays they have three rooms to clean that correspond to the "days" , cat does the laundry room, upstairs hall, stairs and downstiars bath. On a weekday if I need some room or the house picked up they don;t even ask what room they are to do, it's all written out.
It has worked for me for over 7 years. My kids are 11, 14, and 16.

Example of a daily chore would be to scoop cat litter, and feed them,
Kitchen, wash dishes, clean up kitchen
Let dogs out, feed them, clean up any potty, puke ups and brush them when needed.

I do not reward for chores, their rewards are happy parents and the chance to actually do something fun on the weekends.