i guess i could come up with a fancier, more serene name for this, but really it's a chore and house rules board...and i got the idea here.
of course, after you finish looking around at her's, you will immediately notice how NOT fancy/neat/serene mine is compared with hers. but then again, if you read her blog, i am nothing like her anyway. sometimes i wish...but then again, we probably all do!
so a couple posts ago i mentioned that the kids were driving me crazy. this prompted several people (including one of my parents) to genuinely worry about me...something about an "emergency." :)
i want to clarify: i used poetic license to tie in something i'm dealing with right now as a mother (mouthy kids) alongside something crafty i've been wanting to post about lately (the rug). lest you think i am sitting around, crocheting a rag rug, with rollers in my hair and sweatpants on, while my house comes crashing down around me, let me distill your fears now. i don't use rollers, and i have on baggy jeans instead.
seriously, though, i'm okay. just in case you were wondering. and this board is really making it SO MUCH BETTER. now, i don't want to get my hopes up, because after all it's been only 3 days, and 2 of those days aedan has had a 102 fever. but let me tell you, on sunday, when we made the board, this was the scene around my house right afterward:
what i am most excited about is that i have struggled forever it seems like about how to incorporate allowance but also teach the kids that doing chores are a regular part of being a family and helping one another. so, what have i done? nothing. that seems to be one of my downfalls. this idea, though, was just what i needed to push me to action. i love that it has regular chores, which we can swap back and forth every week to avoid boredom, and then there is an "extra credit" pocket so that each kid has a choice as to whether he or she wants to do things to earn money. so it's a total choice.
and just putting the chores and rules all in one place has been amazing. now, when the kids start fighting or being nasty to each other, we just walk over to the board and point to ""Be kind to others." being the pessimist i am, i have been waiting around since sunday to see how long it will take the newness of this to wear off and for them to start rolling their eyes at me when we point out the rules. but what i really should be doing is just sitting back and enjoying this reverie.
the awesome fabric was given to me by this blog friend, sent as a free gift in the mail just to be nice--penny, i finally found a use for it!). and i used cutesie paper i had gotten at target on a clearance endcap a while back. the kids drew their own chore cards, just like in the soulemama post, but there was even a bit of fighting related to that (surprise, surprise), because gillian kept getting upset that aedan's handwriting and drawings weren't neat enough for her standards. hilarious.
i'll keep you posted and let you know if we are still keeping up with the chores and rules after a week or so. in the meantime, i have a project i'm trying to finish before spring break, which starts this weekend, so if i'm scarce here, have a lovely rest of your week!
6 comments:
so I saw you had linked to this board last week and I've been thinking about it ever since. We have the same issues at our house--I want us to be organized and for the kids to pitch in and on and on and of course I can never stick to any of the "systems" we put in place.
But thanks to you, I am trying again! No cute board--yet. But on Saturday the kids and I wrote out what needs to get done every week and figured out which days they could help with those things and wrote it on the giant notepad we have on the fridge. We're three days in and so far so good.
So thank you! It might all fall apart in a week, but at least for today, things feel less chaotic.
i love it! larkin has some chores and it works out so well. however, i have been wanting to make a board so that we can stick to them better. and how funny is it that lucy keeps asking what her chores are? i have to figure out some simple things for her to do.
Love this Kristi, especially that the children helped create it! You're such a great mom! We use a similar system, but it is mainly for behavior and uses the color idea like in public schools. A consistent, "visual" system can work wonders! Hope your's continues to be a success and that Aedan is feeling better! :-)
oooh, laurie, i think i might have to add the color code things. what a great idea! i almost added to the post that for now i haven't thought through what happens when the kids start breaking too many rules... :)
so that might be a good way to keep them fairly in line. thanks!
and yes, carla, i'm with you--if this lasts even a week it will be one more week i'm a little less crazy and more in control! ;) hope it works longer for both of us!
oh, and amy, one thing that has stopped me from doing this before is that i am such a control freak and have thought until now, "well they can't really do these things like I would do them, so i might as well do them myself."
but honestly, who is going to look in their drawers to see if their clothes are folded neatly or just shoved in there? who cares, as long as i'm not the one having to do it?!
yay for hopefully gaining some control in our lives. :)
The funny thing is that I don't even remember seeing this piece in you house! I absolutely love it! You certainly are so inspiring, Kristi! You're ideas always come off so efortlessly that I think I can be all artsy too... it's never as good as you! Hope you are having a great weekend!
aedan certainly looks happy about taking on the new chores. gillian is looking a little more like a forlorn cinderella waiting for her pumpkin to turn into a coach. but it's a great idea, especially letting the kids have some power in helping create it.
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