I have always struggled to keep a clean house with kids. It was just hard to find the time to clean when they were all so little. But this magical thing just happened:
My kids got a little older.
It happened when I wasn't looking. I was probably fussing with a toddler. Somehow I missed what the bigger ones could do.
It was around the first of the year that I decided to try to get more of a handle on the house. I knew that the kids were going to have to be a part of that.
There are many of ways to do chores. I decided that we would do our cleaning schedule together.
Since their chores change a bit from day to day depending on what we are working on, I decided to make a chore chart so that it was very clear what each child needs to do. Like my daily routine chart, I used small laminated tiles with Velcro coins on them so that I could easily switch them out. This could probably also work with a small pocket chart.
Daily Chores
There are a few things the kids help me with every day. Here's how I break down the daily chores, with some notes. Tasks that I give the kids (meaning my 5 and 7 year olds) are in italics.
- One load of laundry: I can't have a laundry day. Just. can't. I can't get down the the basement enough, and if too many loads of laundry go through in a day, it never ever gets folded. So I run one to two loads a day, and try to fold it in the evening while Daniel and I relax and watch something. I have a small laundry basket for each child, and I put all of their clothes in there. The older two put away their own clothes when they do their morning checklist, and my three year old helps me put hers away (meaning I sit with her and show her where everything goes).
- Dishes: This includes a general kitchen tidy and loading of the dishwasher. The kids are required to clear their own dishes after meals.
- Emptying the dishwasher: Someone else unloading the dishwasher is my love language.
- Clearing and Setting the Table: The older two kids switch off doing this and emptying the dishwasher.
- Downstairs Checklist: Have I mentioned that I like checklists? I made a checklist for cleaning the our main living areas, the bedrooms, and the basement. It basically breaks down the rooms into smaller jobs and allows me to assign tasks to different kids. (You can get a copy of the checklists I use here).
Weekly Chores
In addition to the daily chores, we spend 20-30 minutes working together on tasks that are completed weekly. This could be cleaning the bathrooms, dusting, cleaning the floors, or tidying the bedrooms, the basement, or the van.
I made a larger task card to go at the top of the chart that indicates where we are working, then I put the tasks I want each child to complete in their individual sections. When those tasks are done, I move them to the done side of the chart.
Here’s how we break down the weekly chores. Again, the kids’ jobs are in italics:
Bedrooms:
- Bedroom Checklist: Again, this basically splits the cleaning up into very defined tasks.
Bathrooms:
- Clean Toilet
- Clean Bathtub/Shower: I love the Dawn/vinegar thing!
- Sweep/Swiffer Floors
- Mop Floor
- Clean Mirrors
- Wipe Sink--We use a vinegar/water/dish soap solution that is pretty family friendly.
- Empty Trash
Floors:
- Wipe table: You might wonder why this is on the floor list. It's because I like to work top down in the kitchen. I always clean off the eating and cooking surfaces before I clean the floor. I hate to do a thorough cleaning of the floors and have crumbs immediately getting knocked onto the floor. Gotta wait at least five minutes. ;)
- Sweep kitchen floor: The kids sometimes help, especially with the dust pan (ours has a little brush, which makes it easier for them).
- Scrub kitchen floor: We have laminate floors in the kitchen, and they hate water, so I can't mop. We have to scrub on hands and knees and dry with a towel. I did, however, just discover that our kids love this job. Because water and soap and sloshing. So last time we did it together, and it was fun. And wet.
- Swiffer under couches: My kids love to swiffer. Like, they would love to come swiffer your house.
- Dust bookshelves: My kids love the Swiffer 360 duster and actually fight over who gets to dust. So that's a win.
- Dust furniture
- Dust blinds
- One load a day
- Put clothes away
- Clean out van: The kids help with this. Or just pretend to drive while I do it. :)
- Vacuum
Basement:
- Cleaning the litter box
- Basement Checklist: This is basically our playroom/family room, so there are a lot of toys. Just like the living areas and their bedrooms, I have a checklist that splits the cleaning of the basement into defined tasks.
Rewards
We decided early on not to tie the kids’ chores to allowances. There might be jobs in the future that we pay the kids to complete, but for now, we want them to know that being part of our family means being part of the team. That much is, and will always be, expected. We did, however, want to reward them for their participation, so I created a small sticker chart. Each day the kids complete their chores, I put a sticker on a small sticker chart I made. If they don’t cooperate, they lose that day’s sticker (but can do extra chores to make up for it). When they receive seven stickers, we go out for ice cream (or frozen yogurt). If they save up two weeks worth of stickers, they can get a book at Half-Price books. I like this system, both because it’s motivating and because it’s been my goal to have less sugar in the house. It allows us to enjoy a family date together at the end of the week, without having sugar be so much a part of our every day.
Extra Chores:
There are sometimes chores that we don’t get to, so I often put those aside as extra chores. Dusting, for example, often ends up being an extra chore. There are other chores too that are not as much a part of the daily functioning of the house, like helping to put away groceries, cleaning out the refrigerator, shoveling snow (believe it or not, my son loves this), and picking up sticks before Daniel mows the yard. I put a few extra Velcro buttons on the bottom of the chart, and I will often put extra chores there that the kids can choose to do for extra stickers. I also sometimes reward the kids with a sticker when I see them doing something helpful, like yesterday, when Tim emptied the recycle bin on his own initiative. It’s helpful for me to have them looking for extra ways that they can help.
Learning to be Servants
It’s amazing to me how helpful it’s been to have the kids doing these small jobs. I had hoped that I would be able to do some chores of my own during their chore time, but it hasn’t quite worked out that way. I generally supervise and help them with what they are doing, and corral the little ones who are not as able to help. I think about this as training, and it’s still helpful. For those 20 or 30 minutes, they are moving in the same direction as me (and not tearing things apart while I'm trying to put them together). They are also gaining valuable skills for when they are on their own and learning to be servants of the people they love.
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If you'd like a (editable) copy of this chore chart, the chore cards, or the reward chart, feel free to click the links below!
Chore Chart
Chore Cards
Reward Sticker Chart
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