Chores: how to get your kids involved

Are you struggling to get your kids involved with chores? Me too! Here are some things I tried from chore charts to chore apps.

There are a lot of benefits to teaching kids to do chores and taking responsibility for their spaces and the family’s home. However, I always felt that the effort of making a chore chart, keeping up with the chart, and making sure that the kids did their tasks required a lot more energy than just doing the chores myself. I struggled to find the right way that didn’t exhaust me mentally and physically. This article will discuss some of the methods I tried; what worked and what didn’t. 

Chore Charts 

When my eldest turned 3, I began to use the Melissa and Doug Responsibility and Chore Chart. 

The layout of this chart is fabulous. It is magnetic and also a white board which means that you can customize your own chore or goal. I really liked that it included things like “Hands to yourself”, “No teasing” and “Stop Whining” which was very useful when my girls were between 3-5.

The tasks are in both writing and pictures which was great for little ones that are learning to read. My girls loved the smiley faces and enjoyed adding the magnets themselves. When filled, my eldest became overwhelmed by the chart and all the clutter on the board, so I only used 2-4 goals on the board at a time. This is likely a more appropriate number for younger children anyways. As they grow older you can add more based on their maturity. 

Once my middle daughter was interested in having her own goals, I divided the goal list into three goals per child. This worked for a little while until my youngest daughter wanted to be included. Then I needed to find a multi-child chore chart.  

Chore Chart Version 2

The second chore chart I invested in was for 1-3 kids. This chart worked well for my girls off and on for several years.  
Each daughter had their own coloured star so they were able to keep track of what they were completing. Additionally, at the top of the chart there was space to write a reward if they received a certain number of stars. This was very important for my daughters, who happen to be very reward-driven. 

One of things that was difficult with this chart was that they either all had the same goals or I needed to write their names on the goal. Also, the chart itself became overwhelming to look once again. There were lots of goals and stars everywhere. 

Chore Chart Version 3

To make the process simple and less overwhelming I printed off a daily chore chart for each of my daughters. I laminated it and put it on the wall in their bedrooms, next to their bedtime and morning routine reminders. This was a little easier to manage for each of my daughters and we would go over it before bed each night. 

All these charts occupied space on my fridge or a wall for a better part of 5 years, however, I definitely did not use them the whole time. There were a lot of months were it was just a piece of art staring at me reminding me to get control of chores and responsibilities again!

I found that I was good at using the charts for about a month, and then they would die off. Why did they die off? Was it a combination of myself losing interest in keeping after my girls to complete their chores? or was it the girls losing interest?

My eldest was diagnosed with ADHD in grade 1. Through lots of research and workshops I learned that the ADHD brain works well when they are rewarded immediately. They can lose interest very easily if they need to wait for their rewards (for example waiting to get the exact amount of stars).

Chore Jars

I came across a really neat idea and it worked for almost a year. I got a jar and popsicle sticks. Each popsicle stick had a chore and the reward. We were having trouble controlling screen time, so the reward was minutes on technology. Example, vacuuming their room was worth 30 mins of screen time.

If the girls came to us asking for screen time, we told them to go to the chore jar. They moaned about it at first but did the chore and got the screen time. One day I heard the vacuum running and I went to see why, my eldest (who HATES chores) was vacuuming her room without even being asked!!! My jaw fell to the ground. LOL. 

The popsicle sticks worked on and off for a year. We didn’t really have to nag them to do their chores which was lovely and peaceful. However, the challenge was keeping track of their minutes and setting a timer. Eventually like all other methods, it ran its course.

Chore App: Mydoh

With a pre-teen in our house and a 9 year old who thinks she is a 17 year old, we are at a new stage in our lives. Our girls are always asking for money to buy things and our reply is always do chores!

We needed something new! In our search we found a new app called Mydoh. Perfect! Something that used technology, which they love. Something that rewarded them immediately, and something that helped them earn money!

It is a chore tracking app as well as a payment app.

There’s a lot of functionality to the app and it scratches the itch for the girls of using technology while also committing them to completing their assigned chores. So far it’s been a good motivator and has reduced the fighting over chores in the house.

I’ll have a full review of the app for you in another article but in the meantime if you want to check it out – you can do that here with Warren’s link.

In conclusion, it is important to find out what works for your family. Not all methods will work for all families. Depending on age of your children, their motivation level, and what motivates them will determine the chore method you will use. Be patient with yourself, have fun and Good Luck!