Not that long ago I was a very burned out mom and my kids were constantly looking for that special time. I just didn't have the time to give it to them. I was always cleaning up everyone else's mess - not my idea of fun! I was stressed out because I wasn't able to do projects or anything to encourage learning. And I was hearing a lot of "It's your job to pick up my mess" (from my 4 year old). I could talk to her about it as much as I wanted but she saw that Mommy was always picking up after Daddy. In her 4 year old mind it meant why should I pick up when Daddy doesn't have to. She doesn't understand how hard Daddy works all week even though we have tried to explain that to her.
So the Colonel and I talked about it and he agreed to a chore chart. Each one of us has one, including my almost 2 year old. For the kids I found pictures online, laminated them and gave them a magnetic background (sorry no pictures of that part). I bought a roll of magnet and laminate from Michaels with one of their 40% off coupons.
I used the tile whiteboards and gave each one of us their own color. I got these on sale for 50% off at Michaels. Then I took some Scrapbooking stickers that I already had and put our names and "to do" and "done" on each one.
We also used a chalkboard tile to make a menu board. I used scrapbook stickers to add the quote "Do not put off today what your future self will not want to do tomorrow."
Now everyone knows clearly what is expected of them, they learn how to take care of their own things and Mommy can enjoy life a little more too. We set up specific times that we do our chores. For example, we have the kids pick up their toys before we go out in the afternoon. This way its all done so when they come in and are tired we avoid a fight and they can just relax. How do you handle chores in your house?
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