Kids and Chores

If your kids are like mine, getting them to do their household jobs and do them well, is a chore in itself!  If I say, "Go clean your room!" about 10 minutes later the child will return and say it is done.  I know that 10 minutes is not enough time for said room to pass mom's white gove inspection!  After several room checks the child feels inadequate and mom feels annoyed.  I learned this lesson when my kids were young so I came up with the following chore book. 

Each page is a separate room or household chore.  They are laminated for durability.  What makes them helpful is that each step is clearly and specifically laid out.  I went through each job as I did them myself and wrote every instruction, no matter how minor, for the job to be done.  Even the amount of specific cleaning product is listed ie:  Open and unwrap one dishwashing tablet and place it into the dishwashing dispenser and close the lid.  Throw the plastic wrapper from the tablet into the garbage. (I am always amazed that even my teenagers will leave the wrapper on the freshy wiped counter and walk away!)

This chore book was for our first home and when my kids were little, about 10 years and under.  We are now in a different home and my kids are: 18, 16, 14, 12, 12, 11, and 7 almost 8 years old and I am thinking we need to make another chore book.  Another rule I use with chores is that I will come check their work immediately when they tell me they are done...once!  If the work fails the first inspection they must complete the unfinished portion and remain there for 15 minutes before I will come check again.  This repeats until the work passes mom's standards.  This is where a checklist for them to follow is really helpful!  Mom is pretty picky and the kids are usually in a hurry but knowing that they will have to wait for rechecks encourages them to really do a good job the first time and makes sure they complete each task on the list!