Mommy Mondays: Choosing Chores

I touched on this very slightly when talking about how Thatkid's newest job around the house - making dinner, but CHORES!

We're not fantastic at them, and I think we go against all the recommendations, but this is where we are.

We started chores for all the wrong reasons.  Thatkid started being really interested in money and how he could earn it, so we started a chore chart.

He was 4 at the time, and I used this chart as guidance for what he could/should be doing.

He also wasn't able to read, so we started with pictures of the chores he was expected to do.

Things like making his bed, washing his face and brushing his teeth, putting his clothes in his hamper, putting away his toys, putting his dishes in the sink, setting the table, and getting dressed need to be done every day.  Cleaning his room and the coffee table only had to be done once, on the weekend.

He got a star every time he completed one of these tasks, and if he filled an entire week of chores, he'd get an allowance.  We never really decided on how much he would get, which didn't matter, because never got a full chore chart.  It was the room cleaning which killed him every week.  And after a few weeks, he wasn't even interested in the stars.

Nowadays there is no chore chart, no set chores, no allowance.  We tell him things he needs to do, and he does them.  He still does most of the things on the original list, without the expectation of stars.  And every now and again he steps up and offers to do things like put away his clean clothes.  I don't know if we'll start up a chart again, and he hasn't asked about allowance, so for now we just keep on the track we're on.