Chores

We've never really had set chores for the girls but lately I have found that they are getting lazier about cleaning up after themselves.  This is especially true for Brooke who really needs to be learning how to keep a home running and clean before she's out on her own and living in filth :).

This is what I came up with...

1.  Another area that needs improvement is how we act and speak to one another.  Our family will be working on being respectful, cheerful, thankful and helpful towards one another.

2.  These are our weekly chores.  As a family we have always had our cleaning day on Sunday.  Until now the girls have only been responsible for straightening up their rooms and Brooke does her own laundry but now they will be responsible for cleaning one other area of the house.

3.  These are the daily chores.  The girls pick two per week that they will be responsible for.

4.  This is our discipline chart.  The girls must move their clothespin down when a discipline issue arises.  This starts over each day (except if they get down to grounded).

Each Sunday at dinner we discuss our words and give examples of something done right and something that still needs work for each family member.  The girls also pick a new weekly and two new daily chores for the week, they must be different than the week before.

To help the girls know what needs to be done in each room I made up these cards.  Brooke must do most of the things listed on her weekly chore card while Lexy has to pick two or three (to make it manageable).  The sticks with initials are used to decide who gets to pick their chores first but would also be good for any time that both girls want/don't want to do something to make a fair decision (like when they argue about what to watch on TV!).

When we get more kiddos, it will be easy to add them to this system.  I'm already thinking about adding chores like light helper (turn off all lights in house), line leader (on the way to/from the van), bath helper (hang towels, put dirty laundry in hamper) etc.