New Job Assignments

This week I presented the kids with our new Job Chart. Chase was the first to pick it up an analyze it:

His only complaint was “Toilet.” I knew he wouldn’t be too pleased, and he is the first one I have assigned it to. (Thomas and Kaiya, you guys learned toilets when you took over bathrooms.) Anyways, I know you can do it Chase, because I read about it in one of my favorite parenting posts ever. In it, Mr. Thompson said,  “A 3-year-old does not clean toilets very well but by the time he is 4, it’s a reasonably good job.” So at 5-years-old, you got this Chase!

Our Job Chart is laminated then hung on our magnet board and used for the entire year until the next summer comes. I redo the assignments at the beginning of summer so the kids have the whole summer to get good and efficient at their job before our crazy school schedule kicks in. It also works well for me so I can spend plenty of time teaching them while life is relaxed and we have an abundance of time. Keeping our jobs for the whole entire year has worked well for us, because it stays the same for the whole year and the kids really get into a routine.

Here’s the 2019 Chart:

Yep, I keep it super simple. My own jobs never change from year to year. My rule for myself is to try to spend at least 20 minutes on my area for the day. Depending on how messy it is to begin with, I sometimes am usually just decluttering, by removing all the things out of that area that don’t belong. Sometimes I do actually get to clean it. Occasionally I get to do a deep clean, but that is pretty rare unfortunately. Oh well though, I’m sure when the kids grow up and go to school all day I’ll have more than enough time to deep clean.

This year, after a couple of months the kids all had their jobs memorized and knew how to do them efficiently. Unfortunately, the problem was, I got used to them doing quality work and stopped double checking their efforts. The started slacking off, and doing bare-minimum, and that’s how it remained the rest of the year. This year I created job description cards to help make sure they don’t slack off. My plan is, when they come to tell me they’ve finished their job, I’ll check and it and if it doesn’t meet my standards I’ll hand them the card to see what isn’t matching up. Hopefully then, we won’t have to have a debate, and hurt feelings. Expectations are clear. I got this idea from the book The Children You Want, With the Kids You Have.

Well kids, here we go on another year of Jobs! I hope this helps you be responsible, marriageable, mature, clean, get-it-doners when you grow up! Love, Mom.

 

Editable Pages Documents

Family Job Chart

Job Descriptions

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