Bowling

To mix it up this weekend, I stuck papers with the names of different rooms of the house that needed to be cleaned on the bottom of bowling pins. Then I lined them up in a row. Whatever pin they knocked over- they had to look at the bottom of the pin and clean the room on the bottom. After cleaning that room, they could bowl again. It was a success!!

Valentine's Chart

This was a quick and easy one. Top chart was the chores, the bottom was the rewards.

But I want to wash the windows!!

I had to document this for posterity's sake. Look at these monkeys- fighting over who gets to wash the windows?!!

Octopus Job Chart

I got this Octopus Chart from a book by mom gave me called, The Art of Creating Cooperation in Your Home, by Suzanne Hansen. She used it when we were kids. We'd take turns picking out chore charts. Grab an octopus tentacle and see what fun is underneath! This is a great way to do jobs as a group instead of individually.

Fly Lady and the Monster Box

Here is a device we've had to use in years past... THE MONSTER BOX. He came out yesterday when I heard Sassy tell Roonsie Boy in a rushed, whispered tone as I was walking down the hall to their room, "Hurry, Roonsie Boy! Pretend you're cleaning!!" I then gave them 15 minutes to clean before the Monster Box came to eat up their toys. He keeps them for a week. They can pay me for items inside if they want them back (a quarter per toy) before the week is up. Tears were flowing when he reared his ugly head! Even Baby J was crying when the Monster Box came out! I guess the growl was a little too scary.

I read the book The Side Tracked Home Executives, by Pam Young and Peggy Jones, where they would be "house fairies" for each other's children. Since, I didnt' have any funny friends to come dressed up as house fairies, I was glad the FLY Lady could help us out.

Baby J, helping me with the laundry.

We started with chore lists decorated with High School Musical for Sassy and Star Wars the Clone Wars for Roonsie Boy. We got moving a little bit with these, but were still struggling to finish our chores. So, a couple days ago, we had a visit from "The Fly Lady" or Cleaning Fairy" as we call her. Many of you may be familiar with her website. She decided to visit us in the night and left the kids a list of jobs. She came back last night and left a treat for the kids who finished their chores. I think she was a little over ambitious with her list- they did a great job with over half the jobs, but still have some left for today. She said she'd come back one more time tonight to check and see if they get any additional treats.

Monopoly Money

Each chore the kids get done on their chart, they get to put $1 of monopoly money in their jar. The money adds up for rewards such as TV time, computer time, a friend over, a trip to the ice cream store, etc. Though- I think just putting the money in the jar was exciting enough.

Do your best

"We each do the best we can. My best may not be as good as your best, but it's my best. The fact is that we know when we are doing our best and when we are not. If we are not doing our best, it leaves us with a gnawing hunger and frustration. But when we do our level best, we experience a peace." -Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Work Incentives

We needed some chore motivation at our house and we finally found it! For 5 days in a row without complaints. Pokemon Cards!! I'm not a Pokemon fan, but Roonsie Boy has been begging for them for awhile. I'm happy to use them to my advantage for job rewards. I bought a pack of them and at the end of the day they get to pick on out of the pile if they finished their chores. Cooking and cleaning has been a much happier activity at our house this week.

Preparing for School

We are using this card system on the fridge so the kids know what to do before school and after school. When the jobs are done, they go in these card file boxes.