chores

[trying something new]

Since my children were about 18 months old, I have had them help around the house. We started out with simple jobs like helping to pick up toys, putting their dirty diapers in the garbage, putting their dirty clothes in the hamper, putting away pajamas, etc. Later I had them take their dishes to the sink after meals, make their beds, help put away laundry and other more advanced chores. For the past while, I have had a rotating schedule of kitchen work and housecleaning. We would rotate through a daily schedule of setting the table, clearing the table, unloading the dishwasher and loading the dishwasher. We also rotated through weekly housecleaning: dusting upstairs, dusting downstairs, cleaning the upstairs bathroom and cleaning the downstairs bathroom. I took care of mopping and vacuuming the floors. It worked pretty well most of the time.

This month I decided to do something different. Mostly I wanted a change, but also I want C&J to learn how to take care of an entire room. Also, I want them to learn that sometimes we pick up messes made by others. So for one entire week, each of us will have a kitchen job and be responsible for one room. This is in addition to their usual chores of cleaning up after themselves in the bathroom, taking care of their bedrooms and doing homework.

So, for this week, Christie sets the table and is responsible for the living room. That means that it is her job to make sure that the living room is completely tidied up each night. It doesn't matter if Alex's toys are scattered around or if Jordan's school papers are left out. She can ask other family members to pick up their own stuff, but it is her responsibility to make sure it gets done. Jordan's jobs for this week are to clear the table and to tidy the family room. Same rules apply. My jobs are to empty the dishwasher and tidy the bathrooms (both upstairs and downstairs). Steven's job is to clean the kitchen. Since that is a rather big job, the person who has the "clean the kitchen" job doesn't have another room to be responsible for.

On Saturday, Christie will dust and vacuum the living room; Jordan will dust and vacuum the family room, and I will clean the bathrooms (meaning, scrub the sinks, toilets and tub).

Next Sunday (11/8), we will rotate to the next set of chores.

Should be fun.