Summer Chores

We like to shake up our chore routine every few months: usually at the start of the school year, the end of the school year, and at Christmas.  So now that school is out, it's time to take another look at our chore routine.

The biggest problem with summer chores is that our schedule is so irregular.  During the school year we have afternoon/evening chores that are the same every day.  But in the summer kids are gone to band camp, cub scout camp, girls' camp, swim team, dance team, blah blah blah.  So if I assign one child to be in charge of clearing the table, and then that child is gone for a week, it kind of ruins our whole routine.

Normally we do away with daily chores in the summer and opt for my favorite chore strategy: One Good Hour of Chores.  The downside of OGH is that a: I have to be motivated and involved, and b: I have to be motivated and involved.  Some times I just want to sleep in.  Sometimes I don't want to fight the kids.  Sometimes I'd just like the kids to do chores on their own without my help.  So this summer I've decided to take a vacation from my job as task master and try a new approach.

Here's how it works.  Every night I write down a chore for each child on a piece of paper, and I tape it to their bedroom door.  In the morning, they find their note and do the chore(s) written on it (for kids who can't read, they just ask a sibling).  They aren't allowed to watch T.V., use the computer, or play video games until after their chores are done.  I wasn't sure it would work, but the very first morning I woke to the sound of vacuuming and two little boys offering to help each other finish their morning chores.  As we already know, pretty much every new chore strategy is most successful at the beginning, and loses it's appeal as time goes on, so it remains to be seen how this will play out over the summer.  For now though, it's great!

We don't have a name for this system yet.  I'd like to call it "Love Notes," but my kids are leaning towards "Doom Notes."


Marcia