Sunday, January 2, 2011

Chore Charts and Allowance

Tony and I decided we're going to give the kids "structured" chores and that way they can earn their allowance. My iPad has this really cool iAllowance app that is so much fun for me and the kids (really just Emma, Noah could care less) to manage their money. This way, when they get birthday money, I just "deposit" it into their iAllowance piggy bank and when they want things, they have to have enough of their own money to cover it. And the allowance they earn from doing these chores will also be "deposited" into their iAllowance accounts.


This way, I'm not always telling them "NO!" to everything they want at Wal-Mart, Target, and every other store we enter. And it also makes it so that they have to think about whether or not they want a toy or DVD badly enough for it to come out of their own money.


Anyway, I made these chore charts...


Emma's Chore Chart



Feed Pepper

Keep Room Clean

Dishes to sink after Meals

Pick up Toys

Take out Trash and Recycling

Monday






Tuesday






Wednesday






Thursday






Friday






Saturday






Sunday








Noah's Chore Chart



Put Clothes in Hamper

Don’t hit Sissy

Brush Teeth

Pick up Toys

Be a Sweet Boy

Monday






Tuesday






Wednesday






Thursday






Friday






Saturday






Sunday







... and my plan at the moment is to give them each $5 a week if they do a good job with their chores. Is that enough? Too much? I don't know. It just seemed reasonable. A dollar a day? I don't know. Help me out a little here. :)


Do you like Noah's chores? "Don't hit sissy" ( he loves her, but he also loves to hit her.)
And "Be a sweet boy" ( this is pretty much a given, because no matter how bad he is, I still think he's the sweetest wittle thing there ever wasss!!! :)

Anyway, both of their chore charts reflect the things I'm working on perfecting with them at the moment, I'm sure the charts will change from time to time as they need to work on new things. In fact, I think I'm going to add "Do Homework" onto Emma's chart. Hmmm.... But then again, I'm not sure homework should be considered a chore, so probably not...

If your children are around the same ages as mine and you have chores for them, please feel free to share what their chores are and how you do things, because I'm always up for new ideas! :)

5 comments:

B-Blogit said...

is that you crib at the top? That is a nice one! I think chore charts for kids are great idea. We will have to resurrect our chore charts here because we got off them this year. The iallowance thing might be a really good idea as well! Thanks for the tip!

Rachel Holloway said...

Very cute! I am sure they will love it!

Can I throw out another idea? I think it's important for kids to know that they are expected to follow through with certain things as a member of a family. Perhaps you could manage this similar to the method some use for potty training--have them earn stars for each chore, and then have a set amount of money or prizes they can cash in for a certain amount of stars, for example.

Say, for example, you treat the regular daily chores at 1 star each. And then have some extra things you can add that might be extra things around the house that you could use help with--and maybe rank those a higher star value. As they do the chores, they get a star. No chores, no star. Extra chores, extra star (though I would say they couldn't do extra chores until their first stars were all completed for the day)Then the more stars they earn, the more they can use to cash in--if it's on your IPAD you could easily keep track of that...I don't know...just an idea.

I think most important is to remember that you want to start small as far as money goes. Kids don't know the difference between $1.00 and $10. But if you start out too high with them being so young, they are going to come to expect big things from you in the future!!! :) I do think it's reasonable to pay per year (like, if Emma is 5, she gets $5 whenever you pay out--whether that is monthly or weekly, or maybe just even twice a month!)

Anyway, just throwing some thoughts out there!

Tony said...

I think it's a great idea for them....teaches them the value of a dollar and some responsibility. Lol....love the "don't hit sissy" chore :)

A Beautiful Life said...

great ideas! i do chore charts as well, and i do $1 a day too. It's been great lately we've been telling them if they want something they have to buy it, so it does make them think twice or remember their wallets if we go to the store. We don't always finish everyday, but we're working hard on consistency!!

jewels said...

I’ve been wanting to comment on this since yesterday. I think this is great! The younger the better. I know my boys are way older than your babies but I just love this topic. I also like what your friend Rachel said. I followed something similar.

I will try and summarize what I’ve done with the boys over the years. The list you have is pretty much the same I did for my boys when they were 5 & 3 in which they received $5.00 too. I did add homework because I wanted it to be just as important if not the most important chore to do. As they got older and had more house hold chores they had the understanding that homework & their room was no longer a chore they would get paid for. I explain to them that there were certain things in life you do for yourself that would be rewarded differently. They didn’t seem to mind. At about the age of 10,8,6 I started giving them the amount their age was. I stuck with this for about a year, but what I found was my 8 year old was so much more responsible than my 10 yr old. So them two received the same. This year they turn 15, 13 & 10 and the older 2 receive $15.00 & the youngest $10.00. They have chores through out the house including laundry. I’m not a fan of them doing, but it’s good they know how. Punkin loves to cook so I will do a chore for him when he cooks. It’s only fair I think. Although I already have $160.00 a month go out into allowances I do have a MMM system. Make more money. Where they can wash the trucks, house, mow the grass, etc. these are also known as I’m grounded choresJ

This has taught them some valuable lessons though. When they want something from like fast food, shoes, music, games, they work for it! They all have accounts and my youngest has the most $$ he’s very proud of that. He puts all of his birthday money in because at 5 he said I got toys & money why do I need to buy more toys put it in the bank. He’s stuck to that. Even for Christmas he put 20% of what he receive in. During Christmas break my oldest asked me how much would it save if we washed the dishes instead of using the dishwasher. I couldn’t give him an amount but he’s now doing an experiment on that. They all agreed. My most favorite reward is when they really work together to buy that special present for themselves or me. It just shows they really care!! (at times LOL)

So anyways although there are going to be times you find yourself overwhelmed with the schedules, tempers, & eventually attitudes the rewards are priceless!!

Good luck girl & just have fun with it!