One of the things I have learned, throughout my many years of raising and training my children, is that they are completely capable of learning and doing anything and everything that I am WILLING to take the time to train and teach them. They also learn a lot just by watching what I do and then copying it.
What you see in this picture, is my sweet little 4 yr old girl painting/drawing a picture of a chore list that she created for herself for the day.
She decided to make her own chore list, that day, instead of having me do it for her like I always did prior to that day. Ever since then I realized this was a good and fun way for my children to take some responsibility upon themselves while also incorporating some schooling into the process. So now, most of the time, I will have my children make their own daily chore lists by drawing pictures like you see in this post. I have also been having them write the words of the jobs under the pictures, just as I did when I made the lists for them. Being a homeschooling family the skills my children are learning are time management, organization, prioritizing, as well as writing, spelling, drawing and reading.
Now in our home we have two different types of charts for the children. The first chart is for the various chores our children are responsible for completeing depending on the day of the week. Such as Mondays may be the day they are responsible for changing their bed sheets and washing down the cabinets in the kitchen etc. etc. Then the other chart is for their daily responsibilities which consists of such things as getting dressed for the day, brushing their teeth, making their beds etc. etc.
For all my pre-readers I make them picture charts for both their responsibilities and the daily chores that they do. What I did, prior to my children taking over this task, was to sit down on a daily basis and draw pictures of all the chores each child was responsible for completing that day. This was always a fun time of day in our household because everyone always had a good laugh as they tried to decipher what it was that I drew a picture of LOL. I am not an artist in any sense of the word, so many times the pictures I drew looked nothing like what they are supposed to be. Here is an example of what I mean: One day I drew a toilet, because the child was supposed to wipe it down with a rag. Everyone of my children thought it was a picture of an old fashioned telephone LOL. We all had a great laugh that day. After the child completes a chore they are supposed to put an "X" on that picture. When they are all done with their jobs they are responsible for turning their charts into me so that I can check over their work to be sure they completed it and did it properly. Who said work has to be boring or enjoyable?
Since my children's responsibilities do not change on a regular basis I make a chart for each child and then I place them inside of a sheet protector. As the child completes a task they are responsible for taking a wet erase marker and putting a check mark inside the box that is next to the job they accomplished. At the end of each week we wash off all the check marks, from the sheet protector, and start the new week using that exact same chart. By doing things this way it saves me a lot of time from having to make 8 new charts on a daily basis. Because I use the sheet protectors I only have to make one chart for each child when it comes to their daily responsibilities. I can keep reusing these same charts over and over unless for some reason their responsibilities change and in that case I would then have to create a new chart for them or just revise the ones that they were already using. So most of my work is pretty much completed after I make each child's initial chart. That is a huge thing for me because time management is important for all mothers especially when you have a large family like ours.
I hope these tips are helpful to those of you who are looking for time saving tips for running your household. Teach and train your children to take some of the burdens of running the household off of you and onto themselves. If you take the time to do this everyone will benefit from it. My husband has always been a big list maker something he learned from his own childhood. When you teach your children from a young age, how to create to do lists and prioritize the items on them, you are creating a lifelong habit in them that they will benefit from throughout their lives. Not only are will you be giving your children a sense of responsibility but you are also giving them a sense of worth. All children love to feel like they are contributing to the family by being a part of running the household. So give it a try and see what you think. I think you will love it and your children will have great fun participating. You will love how it frees you up and you will enjoy seeing the smiles on your children's faces because they will be so proud of their own accomplishments. So give it a try and share with the rest of us how it went!
Dearest Lord, I thank you so much for the knowledge and wisdom you give to me and reveal to me when it comes to raising and training my children. I could never do it without you and your guidance. You truly are an awesome God. I pray that my children will continue to grow in learning to be responsible and learning how to be a team player in our home. I pray Lord for those mothers out there who may have a hard time with getting on track. I pray you give them the strength and guidance they need to accomplish all you would have them do! I praise you and thank you! In Jesus name I pray, Amen~
What you see in this picture, is my sweet little 4 yr old girl painting/drawing a picture of a chore list that she created for herself for the day.
She decided to make her own chore list, that day, instead of having me do it for her like I always did prior to that day. Ever since then I realized this was a good and fun way for my children to take some responsibility upon themselves while also incorporating some schooling into the process. So now, most of the time, I will have my children make their own daily chore lists by drawing pictures like you see in this post. I have also been having them write the words of the jobs under the pictures, just as I did when I made the lists for them. Being a homeschooling family the skills my children are learning are time management, organization, prioritizing, as well as writing, spelling, drawing and reading.
Now in our home we have two different types of charts for the children. The first chart is for the various chores our children are responsible for completeing depending on the day of the week. Such as Mondays may be the day they are responsible for changing their bed sheets and washing down the cabinets in the kitchen etc. etc. Then the other chart is for their daily responsibilities which consists of such things as getting dressed for the day, brushing their teeth, making their beds etc. etc.
For all my pre-readers I make them picture charts for both their responsibilities and the daily chores that they do. What I did, prior to my children taking over this task, was to sit down on a daily basis and draw pictures of all the chores each child was responsible for completing that day. This was always a fun time of day in our household because everyone always had a good laugh as they tried to decipher what it was that I drew a picture of LOL. I am not an artist in any sense of the word, so many times the pictures I drew looked nothing like what they are supposed to be. Here is an example of what I mean: One day I drew a toilet, because the child was supposed to wipe it down with a rag. Everyone of my children thought it was a picture of an old fashioned telephone LOL. We all had a great laugh that day. After the child completes a chore they are supposed to put an "X" on that picture. When they are all done with their jobs they are responsible for turning their charts into me so that I can check over their work to be sure they completed it and did it properly. Who said work has to be boring or enjoyable?
Since my children's responsibilities do not change on a regular basis I make a chart for each child and then I place them inside of a sheet protector. As the child completes a task they are responsible for taking a wet erase marker and putting a check mark inside the box that is next to the job they accomplished. At the end of each week we wash off all the check marks, from the sheet protector, and start the new week using that exact same chart. By doing things this way it saves me a lot of time from having to make 8 new charts on a daily basis. Because I use the sheet protectors I only have to make one chart for each child when it comes to their daily responsibilities. I can keep reusing these same charts over and over unless for some reason their responsibilities change and in that case I would then have to create a new chart for them or just revise the ones that they were already using. So most of my work is pretty much completed after I make each child's initial chart. That is a huge thing for me because time management is important for all mothers especially when you have a large family like ours.
I hope these tips are helpful to those of you who are looking for time saving tips for running your household. Teach and train your children to take some of the burdens of running the household off of you and onto themselves. If you take the time to do this everyone will benefit from it. My husband has always been a big list maker something he learned from his own childhood. When you teach your children from a young age, how to create to do lists and prioritize the items on them, you are creating a lifelong habit in them that they will benefit from throughout their lives. Not only are will you be giving your children a sense of responsibility but you are also giving them a sense of worth. All children love to feel like they are contributing to the family by being a part of running the household. So give it a try and see what you think. I think you will love it and your children will have great fun participating. You will love how it frees you up and you will enjoy seeing the smiles on your children's faces because they will be so proud of their own accomplishments. So give it a try and share with the rest of us how it went!
Dearest Lord, I thank you so much for the knowledge and wisdom you give to me and reveal to me when it comes to raising and training my children. I could never do it without you and your guidance. You truly are an awesome God. I pray that my children will continue to grow in learning to be responsible and learning how to be a team player in our home. I pray Lord for those mothers out there who may have a hard time with getting on track. I pray you give them the strength and guidance they need to accomplish all you would have them do! I praise you and thank you! In Jesus name I pray, Amen~
No comments:
Post a Comment