Chores

Kathy asked how we do chores in our house. I assign daily and weekly chores to the boys and they are expected to help out with anything else I ask them to do. I do not rotate chores very often. I want them to know what is expected and to be able to do it well. Every 6 or 8 months, we discuss chores and sometimes the boys like to switch, but it has to be agreed upon by them AND me. I also have the privledge of switching them back.

The rules for chores are: Within 30 minutes of being awake, you must have your daily chores finished. No chores, no breakfast! Believe me, teen boys like to EAT! Food is a great motivator.

Also, I only prepare 1 meal a day (sometimes I'll prepare breakfast). So when they fix their own meals, they are expected to clean up all mess. After each meal, they are expected to scrape, rinse and load their dishes.

Oh, they all are responsible for picking up after themselves. Everybody has their own room, and I expect them to put their things away and not leave them laying around the house when they are finished. For example, Jordan has many CDs that he has made. He likes to listen to CDs while doing school. He does school at the dining room table. Last week I told him, many times, every day, to put his CDs away. Well, Friday, yet again there were 2 CDs sitting on the dining room table. I told him 3 times throughout the day to put those CDs away. They were still there when he went to bed. Those CDs went into the trash. They know that is the consequence! He's not even asked about them!

Daily chores include:

Me~prepare meals, wash/load dishes

Jordan~put away dishes (every morning, and throughout the day as needed), make bed and tidy room, scoop kitty litter

Isaac~sweep hard floors in the kitchen, dining room, and back entryway, feed his kitty wet food, empty trash (every morning and throughout the day, also weekly in the basement), wipe down bathroom fixtures, sweep floor and empty trash, make bed and tidy room, set the table for dinner

Allen~Vacuum living room and dining room rug, sweep basement steps, feed/water animals, put dog out (all throughout the day), make bed and tidy room, pick up doggie doo doo

Then we have weekly chores. If you don't do your weekly chores without being reminded, and with excellence, you do not get to have a social life on the weekend. We do weekly chores on Thursday. It is awesome to have the entire house cleaned in 1-2 hours with us all working together.

Weekly chores:

Me~Dust living room and dining room

Jordan~Dust/sweep bedroom, mop kitchen floor

Isaac~Dust/sweep bedroom, deep clean the bathroom

Allen~Dust/sweep bedroom, vacuum living room (includes moving all the furniture and vacuuming behind it), vacuum up the steps and both hallways

I do all laundry. I wash, dry and fold into individual baskets as it comes out of the dryer. I do laundry on Monday and Thursday (plan accordingly lol). Every Tuesday and Friday morning, they are expected to put their laundry away during morning chores.

They take turns doing the lawn. Last year each person had a "lawn job". That didn't work well. So this year we are rotating turns. Every 3rd turn, you have to do the entire lawn, weed eat, sweep grass off of our driveway, walkways and the neighbors driveway (we are CLOSE to our neighbors). In the winter they argue over who "gets" to shovel and snow blow.

Now, in a perfect world they would do their chores without reminding and to the best of their ability. But it is a work in progress, eh? But generally they do a great job. The house looks presentable most of the time.

So that is how it works in our house. Mom thinks it is HORRIBLE that my kids work this much (I think she forgot what I did, at age 11, when she was a drunk??) Anyway, my husband is a truck driver and only home 2 days a week. I do not have the luxury of alone time throughout the day, while kids would normally be in school, to clean my house. I have fibromyalgia which makes housework difficult at times when I am in so much pain it hurts to move! I have 3 able-bodied boys that are capable of working, and so they do. We are a team....I am not a slave lol.