Chore day is every Saturday at my house. This is nothing new to the members of this house and yet every time it rears it's ugly head someone has to say "again" or "why do we have to do chores". When I was a child I would wake up on Saturday morning with a pan to watch all my fave cartoons and it was always ruined by a rather long list of chores I had to do before the TV could go on.
Now I as an adult I see why my mother made me do all those chores, it was to teach me responsibility. And boy did I learn just that. I learned that I cannot just get everything I wanted I had to work for them. We didn't have a lot of money and I have a big family so my reward for my efforts was mostly candy or a treat of some sort and more family time or play time outside.
I want my kids to learn the same values so that is why I am enlisting them to do chores on Saturday's but it would be really nice if for once it didn't become this knock-down, drag-out battle EVERY Saturday. I don't give my kids nearly as many chores as I got when I was their age and I give them money for doing them. Not much but enough for them to be able to save up for something they would like. The younger ones are content with picking out an item from the local dollar store.
The younger ones do not fight me as much with doing their chores because generally their chores aren't as hard as the ones the older child gets. And this is where the problem comes in...
She wants me to buy all these name-brand clothes for her, jewelry, shoes, hair stuff, and make-up and yet she doesn't think she should have to work for it (typical teenager). But I want to instill the same values in my children that my parents instilled in me. Is it just me or does anyone else find this to be a challenge in this day and age?
Now I am going to add to this post later about how I handle the chore situation and some helpful tips and hints for other parents who might struggle in this area but first I want to hear from you.
What do you do to get your kids to do chores?
Do you pay them or not?
What are some chores that you have your kids do (specify age of the child doing the chore too)?
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