Morning Chores

I’ve gotten lots of questions in the past several weeks about how we handle chores around here. First, I should say that there is no such thing as spotless in this house. It’s not possible!! Somebody has always just spilled something, or peed on something, or spilled pee on something (We’re still potty training). On top of that it seems like nobody is actually eating based on the amount of crumbs that are on the floor after meals and everybody tries to act like they “forgot” whose day it is to sweep. We can’t really go a day without doing laundry or it piles up real fast. So, we have to have some type of system. We’ve tried a bunch but this one is my favorite for chores, well morning chores anyway. I’ll make a separate post for the other chores

For morning chores the kids all have their own chore “badges” on a lanyard in their color (I’ll explain our color coding system later). As soon as they wake up in the morning they are required to put on their badges and can’t take them off until everything on the badge is completed. Right now their responsibilities every morning are to:
Make up their Bed
Wash Face
Put Away Laundry
Daily Journal
Breakfast Dishes
Get Dressed
Brush Teeth/Floss
And then my oldest has to take out the trash as well.
There are two things that aren’t listed on the badges because they change every day. Whoever is the special helper for the day has to switch the laundry over ( I always put a load in the washer before bed so they would put it in the dryer) and the special helper is also responsible for putting away the dishes in the dish rack (that I washed the night before). The prayer prince/princess (will also explain in a later post) for that day has to assist with this chore as well! We only use this system for the morning because it’s what works for us but you can use it for after school chores or daily chores as well.

WARNING: Chore badges will not rid all children of the pesky whining and complaining  associated with having to do chores. Also, be prepared for one or more children to “lose” their badge. The beauty of this is its so simple to make these babies!!!