Taking Responsibility with Chore Charts

Ok, you have taken each child and made a list of the various age-appropriate chores for which they will be responsible and you are busy working with them to make sure they understand what you expect the completed task to look like. There is quite a bit of work involved at this stage, but your efforts will pay off; not only will they learn to be responsible and build new skills, but they will eventually relieve some of the household burdens you presently bear.

 However, there is something very important to remember in all this; people don’t do what you expect, they do what you inspect. You must devise a system to stay on top of all the responsibilities. Children have this innate tendency to do as little they have to; often they work hard at not having to working hard. And should they discover their work is no longer being checked, they somehow tend to forget. A tool that may help you manage this problem is the Chore Chart.

A Chore Chart can be as simple as a piece of paper on your refrigerator or as elaborate as a full color laminated poster in each of their rooms. However you choose to devise yours, make certain of a few things:

1. Make one for each child

2. Keep it simple

3. Place it where it is plainly seen

4. Check it daily

Use an effective layout for your Chore Chart such as a table format and include the following elements:

1. A simple list of chores

2. Daily check boxes for completed chores

3. Corresponding boxes for parent’s evaluation

4. A column indication weekly progress

The concept is simple; each child checks his chart to see which chores need to be completed on that day. When the chore is completed he goes back to the chart and checks the appropriate box indicating that it has been finished. Then, sometime in the course of the day, the parent checks to see that each chore was completed as expected and evaluates how well the task was done. Devise a point system that will measure progress and provide motivation as well. It is expected that a child will improve with time, so leave room for improvement. Begin each week anew and change things around every so often to keep it fresh. God give you wisdom as you communicate the joy of serving together.