Chores and Rewards

I admit, I haven't done very well in delegating chores to my children.  The older three didn't start doing chores until we moved to Lithuania in 2007.  At that time, Rebekah was three, Andrew was seven, and Leandra was nine.  But when we went from 1444 square feet to double, two baths to four, one level to three, it was time to start.  

I guess my hesitance to delegate comes from my tendency to have things right or a specific way.  It also has a bit to do with not wanting to listen to whining or complaining that they have to do something outside of playing!  

I have probably heard every excuse in the book as to why they "can't" or "shouldn't" have to do the chores delegated. Kids are pretty good at coming up with legit reasons.  My favorite - or is it the one that leaves me absolutely speechless has been, "I already know how to do it, so I shouldn't have to do it any more."  Yeah...that doesn't fly. Imagine if I quit doing specific chores when I learned how to do them.  I would have been done doing everything by 13!  

My parents did well with us.  There were three of us and we all knew how to do things even if by junior high I did most everything.  I remember being the dishwasher, the launderer, the cook, and the housecleaner.  And to be honest, I don't regret it and wouldn't have changed it.  I am proud to have learned those skills in a world where many, many young folks get out into the world with no knowledge as to how they even wash their clothes.  (I might mention, my six year old just started his laundry for the week.)

I don't wash my kids' clothes and haven't since 2007. In fact, I don't wash my husband's clothes.  He does.  I take care of my clothes and all the linens.  Believe me, if you knew how often I have to wash dish towels you would understand why.  I am CRAZY about changing out my dish towels and dish clothes.  I can easily go through four or five towels and three to four clothes every single day on top of cloth napkins for every meal. 

I have tried many times to come up with a chore system that cycles, but every time there was something that didn't work right.  Then, of course I ditch the system and go back to doing it all myself, giving requests to do chores off and on.

Now I have a system that has taken a few tweaks, but seems to finally be working pretty well.  The kids have had animal chores for quite some time, but I finally have a chart that cycles and seems to work, while not exhausting a person to one chore all the time.  

There are four zones and each zone consists of an animal zone as well as a house zone.  Then they also have odd jobs here and there.  They don't have to do that zone of chores again for three weeks.  This gives them a break, but also gives them opportunity to learn to do each job, once a month.  I have stopped listening to whining and instead tell them, "I didn't have it down the first time either."   

They also have a school chart.  They only do home school four days a week since I do not like the concept of summer vacation.  This gives me time to take days off for various homestead chores like gardening and canning as well as the opportunity to take days or weeks off for holy days and feasts.  

We do not pay our children with money, but I do have a treasure chest. The kids earn points (numbers are by their names on the chores charts) during the week and spend money on their prizes on Sunday.  They get $25 (fake) for each day of school completed.  Then they get money for each day of chores completed.  This is done more as a percentage of chores completed.  Prices on items on the chore chart are 100x the price I paid. So if I paid $1 for a sheet of stickers, they pay $100. 

Finally, when the kids complete the sticker chart for days of school completed, they get a special treat.  For this 100 days, the treat is ice cream.  They don't have to wait for a treat either.  So if Alexandra earns hers first, she gets it first.  The others have to continue on toward their treat.  

Well, the kids are done with their chores today and have started to play their rounds of Adventure Academy.  Alexandra is playing right now and the other three are riding bikes.  The bread is rising in the oven and I need to go make lunch: eggs and muffins.  We are having haystacks (rice and chili over tortilla chips) for dinner and sabbath is tomorrow, so no work except that which is necessary like caring for animals and normal necessary stuff like cleaning up dishes and fixing meals.  

Have a blessed weekend!