Helping Hands Jobs For Kids To do Around The House!

     I love those days when my kids love to help around the house with out asking. Now this can be a good thing or a bad thing. I remember as a child growing up one of my jobs was to clean the bathroom. Every Wednesday ( yes I still remember the day) it was my day to make the bathroom shine! I would wipe down the white wicker shelves where my mom kept flowers and a little angel. The toilet was the hardest part to clean since I had a younger brother that used that bathroom too. Having my mom be proud of me was the best feeling in the world! Sometimes our children want to help but not in the way we think is helping, their actually making more work. One thing I think is important is starting children young learning responsibilities. Even at the age of one they can understand so many things. Language is huge! I never talked "baby talk" to my children, but talked to them as I would with an adult, only on a lower level. Have a basket or bins and take a picture of the toy that goes in it and tape it on the bin or container. I would tell them in 5 minutes ( I would then set the timer) when the timer goes off it's time to clean up your toys. I would pick up the toy and show them the picture and say it goes here. They can see that the picture and the toy is the same. Praise him or her up a lot! Tell them thank you! Many of my friends that had kids after me would ask me about what chores are okay for what ages. 

• Ages one can pick up toys learning to put things away. Praising them up now is really important.
• 2-3 they can start learning to make their bed, helping mommy or daddy match socks. Again they are relating what is the same just as you did with the pictures on the bins. 
• 4-5 at this age they are better at doing things,  but not skilled at it so be patient. At this age my children were making their beds, cleaning their rooms, collecting the trash from around the house and put in in the kitchen trash. Helping with setting the table and putting the clean silverware away from the dishwasher. 
• 6-8 They each have their day to clean the bathroom. They have to empty the dishwasher. Help dust the house. My children now take their clothes out of the dryer hanging and folding their clothes putting them away. ( This works good because you and I know that we as kids put our clothes in the hamper just to make our room look clean even if our clothes were clean or not) By doing this it has help with the amount of clothes I now see in their hamper. By this time they also help clear or set the table. 
• 9-10 They do most all the chores above but I also have a day when they have to help me cook. This gets them involved to help prepare the dish they are going to make and it's good bonding time. Also vacuuming, and sweeping the kitchen floors. 
• 10-13 They are doing their own laundry. All the chores above and cooks one meal a week. ( I normally will clean the kitchen if they cook that day) 

     I have a chore list that I use every month for them. We have what is called the "required chores" which they do not get an allowance. This is what is expected of them. Then I have the "above and beyond" chores that they can chose from if they want to earn money. Just as adults we go to work to earn money, when we come home we have chores and responsibilities to do and we don't get paid for those. Iv'e explained this to the kids and it has worked great! If you noticed by the end of the day the required chores are not done and they are asking to go play or watch a movie, you simply ask, did you finish your chores? They will move quick! 

     I made a fun way to pick jobs if they get bored is get a bunch of popsicle sticks and write creative jobs on them and then the amount you will pay them. Here are a few I wrote: 
Pick 20 weeds for .25 cents
Wipe down door knobs .15 cents
Wipe down light switches and television and game remotes .15 cents 
Clean window sills .25 cents
Wipe down baseboards .50 cents
Pick up 50 beans ( we used to live in Tucson, AZ so we had mesquite beans that fall from the tree)
Water plants .11 cents

Once they draw their sticks and do their jobs they can add up how much they are going to get. That is why I make the pay different. 

     
 My kids saw me pull out the job sticks and they were ready to do chores! They used my Norwex mop, which my son had fun doing. Normally I have to fight with him to help mop with the floors using our mop and bucket with floor cleaner. But this time he enjoyed just using water and moped the floors with a smile! My daughter used the Norwex Window Cloth, just using a spray bottle with water. The back glass door looks great! No streaks! 
If you would like to know more about Norwex and order please click here. Remember to praise them up for a job well done! 

Summer coming to an end.

Wow, summer went by fast, or was it to slow for you?
We have had a busy summer filled with $1.00 movies, (living here in AZ this is the place to be!) looking at toys in the toy store, arts and crafts, gardening and lots of swimming.

I have three children aging from the range of 6-12. My days are always fun and challenging at the same time. We have our good days and bad. Today we did a fort in the living room. We took all the couch cushions off and moved chairs and made a fort. The carpet was the hot lava! To be a kid again and have their imagination! It was fun to get on the floor and interact and pretend again. I think as mom's or dad's we forget to play and pretend. It's so much fun being out of our adult element.