Chore Cards and Reverence Cookies

At the beginning of the year, one of the things I really wanted to be better about was getting chores done in a more organized way and getting the kids more involved. While at my aunt's house at Thanksgiving, I noticed she had a recipe box to organize her household work. There were cards labeled "weekly," "monthly," and other designated time frames. I decided to use that as my model. We have "weekly," "every other week," and "monthly" jobs. We also have tab dividers labeled with each month for things like "washing windows" that only get done a few times each year. Each card has the job title and then a breakdown of the job so when the card is pulled it can be taken and referred to until the job is done. Then the card is replaced. I really like the idea of having a very versatile system where cards can easily be moved an altered when necessary. We've been at it a month now and so far it working fairly well.

So, each Saturday, the kids are responsible to get their rooms cleaned up and vacuumed, do their Saturday chore (Talmage the bathroom, Bryant dusting, and Sariah "helps" mom), and draw a card. Bryant is quick to draw the "vaccuum the van" card in hopes of finding loose change. Yesterday I had to "plant" a few coins to keep him excited about it. Talmage is getting the bathroom job down pretty good.

I've decided I like birthday parties. They are great motivators. Talmage got a phone call Friday night to go to a swimming birthday party yesterday. He paced himself and got everything done by 1:30 so he could go. I was very pleased.

I've also decided I'm not going to prod the boys in the morning. They know what has to be done to be ready for school and they know what time they have to walk out the door to get there on time. So far, they have made it every day, but it's been close I'm sure. I'm wondering what will happen if they ever end up tardy. The thought brings Bryant to tears.

So, the last couple weeks have been less than reverent on our bench in sacrament meeting. Today, I told the kids I'd make them reverence cookies if they were reverent. Not perfect, but much improved.

Guest Post (James):
Bryant is the money hunter. I took him to a basketball game at Kamiakin (where I teach seminary) on Saturday night. He likes basketball, but the pennies he would find on the floor in the halls and in the stands were the best part. As we left I said, "There is a lot of money around here." Bryant said, "I really like Kamiakin." I asked if he would like to go to Kamiakin for school. He said, "Yes, but not for the money, just so I could be closer to you." It was a good game, but being with Bryant was even better.