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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Aug 06 2015 at 8:11am | IP Logged
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So I'm trying something new for us this year and pegging our chore times to each meal, including our afternoon tea time. My theory is that if the kids are doing chores after each meal I will be better able to supervise because it will be pegged to something that happens anyway. Care to look at my charts? I could use your great wisdom and advice. My kids are 16-4. The 4yo is Patrick so anytime you see his name that chore will be done "sort of". But since these are daily chores an older child will follow him the next day.
The only way I know to post it here is to put it on my very neglected blog. So if you want to see the charts you can go here
Thanks!
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: Aug 06 2015 at 11:15am | IP Logged
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Hi, Becky....
This is TOTALLY personal and just our experience, but thought I'd throw this out to you.
When you rotate chores like that, I find that it's very confusing for the kids. In order to have consistency, no nagging, and kids who know what is expected, it's helpful to have kids doing the SAME thing every day on a consistent basis. Then after awhile (and I'm talking MONTHS), rotate. I like that you're setting them up for success this way....they don't have to THINK (what do I have to do now? Is it my day?) they get very good at their job, and they tend not to complain.
What do you think about this?
So, instead of rotating chores, we have the SAME kid doing the SAME job for 1-6 months.
For example:
Clear Table: Evelyn...every day, every meal
Clean up Breakfast: Tim
Clean up Lunch: Luke
Clean up Dinner: Louisa
or....how you have it....you would have....
Sarah: Bfast Prep and Dishes
Daniel: Put away clean dishes
Patrick: Tables/Clear Counter/Wipe
AFter dinner tidy:
Living room: Tim
Entryway: Louisa
Bathrooms: Luke
(everyone takes the same room/area...every day)
After dinner, we have 1 main person cleaning up the kitchen....(everyone helps at the beginning; clearing table, etc) and then the rest of the kids are each responsible for a room...tidy and clean up (if needed). In the summer, this includes the outside. That way, everyone is working after dinner for 10-30 minutes.
We rotate rooms/jobs about every 5 months or whenever I get around to it.
Now that the kids are older, we can do this.
Note: moms with littles.....this is NOT for you! 
Anyway, just something to consider....that was my first thought when I took a peak....
Lots of rotating EQUALS confusion and kids who have the think hard about something they don't like to do in the first place which EQUALS not doing it without you prompting (nagging).
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Suzanne in ID
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Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Aug 06 2015 at 11:43am | IP Logged
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My experience is like Suzanne's. It is just easier. Even with littler ones like my 6 year old, it is just easy for him to always unload the dishwasher.
We did start rotating our quick tidy zones so we could squeeze 3 tidies a day. It is hard for me to stay on top of this, but it helps SO much when we do and doesn't take that much time out of the day. But each older boy gets to do each zone each day if we make all three, and no one is stuck with putting away the legos or sweeping the foyer every time.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
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[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Erica Sanchez
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| Posted: Aug 06 2015 at 3:04pm | IP Logged
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Chiming in to say that I agree with Suzanne and Lindsay.
Also, your post about camping, the next one after this chore one, the two year old one...awesome! Great tips. My husband would drool over that huge Yeti!
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Have a beautiful and fun day!
Erica in San Diego
(dh)Cash, Emily, Grace, Nicholas, Isabella, Annie, Luke, Max, Peter, 2 little souls ++, and sweet Rose who is legally ours!
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motherheart
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| Posted: Aug 06 2015 at 4:07pm | IP Logged
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We have a very similar chore chart. We originally rotated weekly, which was OK. For the last 9 months or so we are rotating monthly and it is working out better. No one can get "forget" to do a chore and then the next day someone else gets it done for him/her and there is less complaining and less: "Well I forgot that it wasn't my week--do you want to trade since I already did it?"
Our youngest is the helper, paired up with a different older child on different months. I paired myself up with our second youngest to help him.
We have our chore chart posted on the wall by our family calendar. On the calendar each month we write the chore month we are on, so all of our readers know exactally where we are.
I tried to cut and past our chart here but it ended up being a giant list, so I listed the sets of chores we have. We have 4 sets of chores that we rotate and we all clean the house together on Saturdays (usually!). Hachi is our dog.
set 1:
+Laundry
+Family room
& entry way
+Clean table
+Hachi’s water
set 2:
+Dishes
+Bathroom &
hall
+Sweep kitchen-
dining area
set 3:
+Cooking
+Living room
+Sweep kitchen-
Kitchen area
set 4:
+Trash
+Kitchen
+Clean stovetop
& counters
+Feed Hachi
Each monthly set of chores has one task, one room, and one after dinner chore. Whe we clean the house weekly--dust, vacuum, and any extra clean up--the kids clean the room they are assigned to and their bedrooms (which they share).
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Mary
Mom to  ds 16, dd 14, dd 13, ds 9, ds 6, and 4 in Heaven
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motherheart
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| Posted: Aug 06 2015 at 4:10pm | IP Logged
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I also instituted chore breaks into our day. We have chore breaks before our meals for 10-15 minutes (or however long it takes  ) and then after dinner chores. This way chores aren't on my mind all day.
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Mary
Mom to ds 16, dd 14, dd 13, ds 9, ds 6, and 4 in Heaven
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Aug 07 2015 at 6:49am | IP Logged
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Thanks for the dose of reality Susan and all! I know, now that I go back and look at it, that this chore system would be a nightmare to oversee. Actually, we have done our chores as you all describe for some time and it's working so I'm not sure why I'm trying to reinvent the wheel. I think I need to keep the chore assignments that are working but incorporate more chore times during the day. Right now our chore time is in the late afternoon and then again, for kitchen chores, just after dinner. I need to have the kids doing more quick chore times instead of one big one because, even when they do a good job, I feel like our house isn't clean, or at least not for very long. The living room is a good example. One person is responsible to keep it clean. He picks up the Legos that his little brothers left out during our afternoon chore time. But, because they play with Legos in the evening I wake up the next morning to Legos on the floor (which can be a bit painful ). Likewise, he vacuums on Monday and checks that task off the list, but my Wednesday it needs to be vacuumed again. (What is up with that? I remember when I only had one or two and I could get away with vacuuming once a week. Too many feet around here now I guess!  )
I like your task / room / after dinner chore set up, Mary.
Okay, back to the drawing board. I'll let you know what I come up with. Thanks again Ladies! 
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: Chore Charts (again)
