Chore Chart Ideas

My daughter does this with her 2 boys the same age, and they work for minutes to watch TV or play the Wii.

hi~
I love that you have your kids do chores - that's awesome! :) I work with kids a lot on behaviors, reward charts, etc at work. I found that a lot of the techniques I use supernanny uses. She has EXCELLENT info on setting up reward charts, has printable reward charts, other ideas (e.g. fill up a jar with colored golf balls and when it gets to the top you have a special outing/reward). http://www.supernanny.com/Advice/-/Supernanny-techniques/...

A couple of other thoughts:
1) I don't typically recommend removing points with reward charts - you want to keep it positive
2) make sure the reward is something that is given ONLY with the reward chart (e.g. if the reward is a trip to the museum the kids don't go to the museum on a regular basis - otherwise it is not something "special")
3) you maybe already doing this but make sure the chores are age appropriate. A GREAT website that lists age appropriate chores is : http://www.familyroi.org/Family_ROI_Age_Appropriate_Chore...

good luck :)

hey girl - my boys are 5 & 8, and we give out wii "tickets" for chores - our boys are not allowed to play the wii without "tickets" - each "ticket" is worth 15 minutes on the wii, and we limit them to 4 tickets a day. What happens is they come and ask what they can do to earn a ticket - I have them unload the dishwasher, fold their clothes, sweep the floor, clean the sink, etc, etc - the other day my 5 yr old got up around 7, and at 9 he came into my room and said "mama, i emptied the dish washer, cleaned my room, swept the kitchen and let the dogs out - can i play the wii?" - it works really well.
Also, if they misbehave at school, they are expected to do x amount of chores, so we do use chores as a punishment as well.

good luck!

~T.

http://MamaWorksFromHome.NET
http://FamilyBenefitsLive.com

We've done charts and "tickets" in the past with my now nine-year-old son. Currently we are using a calendar and each day has a specific chore. The consistency of knowing Monday is trash, Tuesday is dishes, etc. has helped. It's also written on the calendar to remind him. He has daily expectations (homework, reading, straightening living room) and those are written in lower case, chores in upper case. If daily expectations are done, he gets 30 minutes of "free time" (usually computer or Wii, his choice). But he also has a strict bedtime, so if those daily expectations aren't done, he may run out of free time, or not have any at all. It's hard not to nag when we see him just sitting around, but he knows the rules and it's his choice when he does his duties. He's been bitten more than once wanting to play Wii but not having time before bed because he didn't start his chores early enough. The chore is expected to be done that day (again, something we have trouble with, but we try not to nag). He does get paid for chores, but if it's not done that day, he doesn't get paid for it. But all chores have to be be done by Sunday in order for him to get paid for what he's done. He has five household chores he gets paid $1 each for. In addition to dishes and trash, Friday is his room (which has to be clean in order for him to do anything on the weekend - this has helped with the nagging because he never knows when something's going to come up or friends are going to want to do something, so he usually cleans it right after school. He also knows that keeping it relatively clean during the week saves him a big job on Fridays, which is a great lesson). Saturday is our choice, depending on what needs to be done, and Sunday is his own laundry which has to be washed, dried and put away. This is the one he struggles the most with as it requires time to run the machines and some planning. He is also in Cub Scouts and works on those activities on Wednesdays, but doesn't get paid for that, as we pay his dues. Thursday is the Scout meeting so he has that night "off".
On the calendar, we put a line through chores as they are done and mark it with an X if it wasn't done on time. At the end of the week, we write in how much he got paid so we know we paid him and he understands if he didn't get the full $5.
We've been doing this since we returned home from Christmas and it is working great. There's only been one week he earned the full $5 and it was this past week, so I think he's finally starting to get it.

Well even a Husband has to be "reminded' of doing chores/things around a house.. .so for a child to be expected to do things without "reminders" ... can be not always possible.

Things like: wiping the tables, dusting, setting the table, washing the dishes, put away etc.

Or simply ask them, what would be a good happy medium, in terms of a "reward", that is not food/candy/toys etc.

But also that the kids have to realize that this is part of being a Family. It is about HELPING each other, and the home, in which THEY live in, too. So thus, responsibility, without bribing.

All the best,
Susan

We have a chore chart set up for our 9 year old daughter. She actually gets an allowance for it, however you can have your children earn "fake" money and when they reach a certain goal, they can buy a certain outing that you've outlined for them already. Basically on the chart, it goes from Monday through Sunday. Underneath the chores, we have a listing titled "What I need to do". We have things on there like sweep the kitchen floor, empty the household trash, water the plants, vacuum, etc...Some things she does every day like make her bed, pick up her room, read for 30 minutes, and complete homework. Others, we have her do on certain days...like water the plants on Monday. On the chart, she finds the items that are highlighted for the day it is. She knows ahead of time which items she has to fulfill. Also, if she has 2 infractions in the day...she doesn't get allowance for that day. We broke it down to $.64 a day which turns out to be $9.00 every two weeks (enough for her age). You could just keep track and tell them that a certain item costs $10.00 and a big outing like an amusement park costs much more. Keep an accounting of how much money they have in their accounts...like a bank. Good luck...I hope this helps.

Have you heard of Family Fun Magazine? They have tons of great ideas in them and I am always seeing really cool chore ideas - for keeping track and for rewarding. You can access them all online. Google Family Fun Magazine to find their website and then you can search their site. :)

Here's how we do it.
I have 4 kids still at home.
We have 4 days cat, dog, kitchen, off
On Saturday cat person cleans the bathrooms, there are 2 and the kitty litter.
dog person does the dining room, dusts, vacuums, and the foyer
kitchen person does the kitchen dishes and all and the computer room
off person does the piano and tv rooms
All chores include dusting, vacuuming, trash, the whole bit.
On the weekdays dog person feeds dogs, lets them out ,cat peron scoops kitty litter and feeds cats kitchen person is on dishes that night and off person gets a day of rest.
Each child has a marker color and I put CDK on the calendar in their colors.
So say my daughter Annie has red. if it is her cat day there is a big red C in the calendar, the next day a big red D and one of the other's colors are C and K.
THis has worked for over 4 years and there is no squabbling over chores because all I do is look at the calendar and say well it's your day to do cat or dog or whatever. My kids are 9,12,14, 16 and 20
And their reward is a cle3an house and an unstressed M.. I do not pay them.