Anyway, I am determined to be more organized in the area of summer activities, chores, and media time with my kids. I've been pretty organized before, but I've noticed some problems and I wanted to tweak my plans again. That's the beauty of keeping schedules, you learn to be flexible when it's just not quite right. As they grow, so must your flexibility!
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| Click HERE for FREE printable |
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| Click HERE for FREE Printable |
So, for summer, I decided that they would have to continue getting their regular morning chores done - minus having to make a school lunch, of course - but added that they have to do TWO more chores each day because this Momma is SO busy now that I need more help around here. I made extra chore cards that they can choose from {above FREE printable}. There are ten cards. They can choose two each day, but then they have to put the cards back into the cup so they don't repeat the same chores that week. It starts all over the next week. {Yes, I know there are two of the cards that are the same, and that's on purpose so they do it twice in one week, but must choose a different area to organize}. They like this part because they can choose their own chore and have some part in deciding what they want that day.
I've also got to get their time in front of the screen under control. I have always restricted their time in summer to two hours a day of media time, but haven't had a good way to keep track of it. Media, in our household, is defined as: TV, Wii, Ipad, or computer. You could also call it "screen time" or something like that. I don't have a problem with media on a small scale. I DO when they get obsessed with it and act like zombies and it rules their whole day. So, I came up with this idea. I made these "media minutes" sticks {well, laminated cardstock} and they get 8 of them each morning. Each one if is equivalent to 15 minutes. I have their first initial on them and they can decide how they want to use it - use up all their time at once, or a little at time. I also give "bonus" media minutes for various things and for reading. Whatever they don't use up at the end of the day gets put back and start with two hours the next day - they don't get to save up those 2 hours. However, if they got bonus time {I mark these with an asterisk} they can hang on to those and use them. So far, they love it and are doing well with them.
Let me tell you what this is teaching my kids. It's teaching them that media is fun, but not necessary. It's teaching them how to save - for instance, saver vs. spender. Are they going to use a little throughout the day or all at once? It's a great prep for money useage, too. They are finding lots of other ways to keep busy - alone or with each other. My kids are 13 and 8. Could they have done this many years ago? I believe so. I think these visual sticks are going to help them and we can all keep track of how much time they spend in front of the "tube" watching and doing stuff.
The last kid things I've done are money making chores. I know a few of you don't believe in paying your kids to do things. I also don't pay my kids to do regular household chores - we all have to pitch in and I'm not going to pay you $1 to clean up after yourself. But, those harder chores are great ways to teach them to make some money and learn great life-long skills. I asked my FB readers last week to help me out with this, and they gave me some great ideas:
- Mow the lawn
- Pull weeds for an hour
- Rake leaves for an hour {or a certain area} and clean up
- Sweep for 30 minutes
- Scrub walls in the house
- Scrub BBQ and outdoor furniture
- Wash windows
- Wash the car
- Vacuum the inside of the car
- Special projects that come up
I have another big list of more chores too that they came up but they are more of just a list of chores that may or may not be paid. The list above is the one I came up with for my own kids to do for some extra money. I have made it a printable, should you want to also make your own $$$ chore cards, but if you don't like these {or want them personalized} I will be posting soon {like next week} about how to make your own chore charts and schedules. Once you learn how to make your own chore charts, you can tailor it to your own family needs...won't you like that? Has your summer officially started?
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