Jun 16, 2011
Summer Vacation Survival Tips: Give ‘Em a Job
This week was Orison’s first full week of summer vacation. Even though I only have one school-aged child, and he was only in half-day school, it’s still an adjustment to have him home all day, every day.
I’m sure there are many of you with tons more experience under your belts for making summer a success, but here’s how I’m trying to make it work for me:
Jobs
I’m never very consistent about allowance or chores, but Orison’s very interested in earning money (& then counting it over and over and telling me the year that’s printed on every.single.coin). He does a few tasks for 10 cents each, with the earning potential for 50-60 cents per day. Cheap help! Of course these will be different for every household, but right now he does the following jobs:
- Emptying the silverware caddy from the dishwasher each morning.
- Running the bare-floor vacuum and cleaning off the high chairs after breakfast and lunch.
- Cleaning his room and/or the playroom.
- Putting away his clean laundry.
Of course Morrow (2.5) wants in the on the action, too. So he even gets some money for his jobs! Morrow gets 1 penny for the following jobs:
- Getting diapers for the babies.
- Throwing away diapers.
- Putting the bottles into the sink.
All of these things happen a lot throughout the day, so he might make about 10 cents a day. He’s thrilled to be like his big brother! I don’t think it’s that meaningful to him yet, but he thinks it’s fun, so I’m going with it.
There are a few ground rules for working:
- If you complain when asked to do your job, you will still have to do it, but you won’t get the money.
- You can say no politely from time to time, but just know that you’re passing up the cash.
- Money can be deducted from your wages if you are purposefully mean or unhelpful throughout the day.
Right now I’m just keeping a little tab on the counter of how much each boy earns per day. If I can get my act together soon, I’d like them to have a chart where we could mark it down. That way it would keep them more motivated and keep me accountable to bless them for their help.
Do your kids do household job? Which ones?
I love this idea! By the way, what kind of bare floor vacuum do you have?
It’s a Makita. Like the power tool. Yeah, it’s amazing. I’ve been meaning to post about it. :)
I just found this website the other day: http://www.freeprintablebehaviorcharts.com/ I found a spider man one that I filled in for our almost 4 year old and he’s pretty excited to be filling it in for an end of the week reward!
My mom always had job charts for us. They pretty much covered everything in the house. Of course, she also had a ton of kids to spread out the work. We reviewed the weekly job chart (some jobs were daily, others were weekly) every Saturday night and were paid based on whether we finished all of the tasks on our list. I’m sure I’ll be using something similar with my own kids one day.
Kim and I are both using myjobchart.com with our kids this summer. It does all the organizing and money tracking work for you and the kids love using it too!
A great idea. Teaches valuable lessons in responsibility, arithmatic, and the rewards of honest work. Plus, you benefit in the process. I’ll try this with my girls. I can give 9mo old Samantha a penny if she stops drooling on the floor. ;)
I also have the kids (6, 4, and almost 3) take turns wiping down the bathroom sink. It feels so good to look in the bathroom and see a clean sink! It makes the whole bathroom look clean!
I think Morrow needs a raise for throwing away diapers.
Nice! Owen is in charge of a few daily routine things for himself each day for which he does not get paid for. (taking dishes to the sink, keeping his bed made and room tidy, caring for his animals etc.) However, he does get a *small* weekly allowance that can be dwindled for bad attitudes when doing tasks.
I like the idea of offering an incentive for extra chores around the house. :)
I agree that Morrow should at least get a nickel for throwing away diapers…it is much like being a garbage man so you should probably let him know he gets holidays off:)
So cute! I think it is so important to teach little ones to help around the house! By the way, I missed your blog! I had some catching up to do! :)
I’m such a math nerd (and prayerful future math teacher)… when you said graph, I immediately thought, “ooh, you can introduce them to bar graphs!”
Can’t wait to my little one wants money…bwahahaha.
I just started doing this “for real” with my older kids. Oldest girl is 8.5 and she has been earning quarters for picking up sticks, cleaning messes that aren’t hers, etc. She has to do her regular chores for free though because she lives here for free ;) My 5 year old doesn’t seem to care the least bit about money yet, so not a lot of help out of her! I love your penny for diapers, etc. thing with the little guy!
Before school started last year, I read a great resource from a homeschooling family. Since I homeschool and we have 6 people in our family, I was especially interested in how this family handled the household chores, because keeping up with the house and schooling is a huge challenge. After reading the book, I realized there were many chores my children can help with even if the jobs don’t get done perfectly.
My three oldest children (7.5, 6, 4.5) help at mealtimes by setting and clearing the table, wiping the table and sweeping the floor. Each has their own assigned meal to help with.
On Saturdays, which is usually our bigger chore day, they rotate helping with dusting, washing the kitchen and dining room floors and cleaning the bathroom sinks. It’s funny, because, they mostly find these chores fun to do and were excited when I said they get to use the mop.
Something I recently started was using chores as part of a consequence for behaviors that were becoming bad habits. For example, if they spit/stick their tongue out, they have to wash a few windows. If they use rude words, they need to clean a toilet. The funny thing is, they find these chores fun to do which may deflate the consequence factor, but since they’re chores I don’t like doing as much, I’m still going to run with it.
I like the ground rules you put in place Molly – something for me to think about since there are definitely times when it’s harder to motivate the kids to do their chores.
I have a 4-1/2 year old daughter; 3-year-old son; 15-month-old daughter; and baby boy due in July.
My daughter (4) is responsible to take bathroom trash downstairs to kitchen trash and replace the bag; help empty plastic plates, sippy cups & silverware from the dishwasher; help fold laundry: her underwear, all washcloths & bibs, smaller items; help set the table for meals(anything unbreakable: silverware, kids’ plates, sippys, etc.)
My son (3) is responsible to let the dogs out of their crates in the morning & send them outside & bring them back in; help w dishwasher & table setting (same as 4-year-old).
Both have to help get diapers/dispose of diapers for the youngest; help pick up toys before meals, naps, & bedtime; put their meal items (plate/bowl, silverware) in dishwasher after meals, sippy cups in the fridge.
Having their “help” has been so important, since I spend weeks (or months) on bedrest with preterm labor issues during pregnancy.
My husband and I are still trying to decide what to do about allowance/payment for chores. Growing up, I never received an allowance–my parents taught us that we didn’t get paid to “help” around the house. Instead, we are a family, the work is part of being a family, and all of us pitch in cheerfully together.
My husband and I do see value in “allowance” as payment for working, rather than just giving the kids money, simply for existing. . . but teaching them the concepts that you work to earn; you save to buy; etc.
So we are still trying to figure out our own little chore-system, and I always enjoy reading what other families out there are doing to instill a good work ethic and to teach kids about money!