**Disclosure: I did not receive this product to review for free but bought with my own moolah to help bring some sanity to my home** This is mostly for my sister-in-law who is curious about how well the chore system works.
I think it’s no secret that I expect my children to do chores around the house. It teaches them two things:
1. They don’t live in a hotel and therefore must be able to clean up after themselves.
2. They are preparing for when they have their own home and own children to do their chores for them with them.
However, getting organized and making sure chores, as well as basic housekeeping/grooming duties done has been…well, a chore. Seriously, it took Liam 45 minutes on several different occasions to just get dress…it went like this:
Liam: May I be excused please?
Me: Yes, what do you need to do after you put your dishes away?
Liam: Get dressed.
Me: Please do it.
Liam: Yes ma’am.
Every time I would actually believe he would go get dressed…however, I’d see him run through the kitchen to the playroom (on the other end of the house).
Me: Liam, what are you supposed to be doing?
Liam: Getting dressed.
Me: What are you doing?
Liam: Uh, uh, getting dressed (or playing or fighting or something else)
And then discipline would ensue and we’d discuss, again, what he needed to be doing. Same cycle over and over and over again. Not to mention trying to make sure that Zoe and Ace were staying on task and getting everything done that was in my brain but not written out for them.
So, I had heard about the ChorePacks put out by the Maxwell Family. The Duggars use them so I knew they were good but still wasn’t convinced that they would work. When we attended their conference in September, I was sold. Teri Maxwell even talked about the “distractable” child and clipping the chorepack on their nose shirt sleeve so that it would distract them and remind them of what to do.
It took me about three weeks to get our chores (which we were already doing) typed up and printed off. I used their recommended program, Choreware, because it was easier than trying to write out and figure out what everyone needed to do.
My problem came in that we had various chores on various days. I like that routine as all kids get to help me and learn basic skills (mainly in the kitchen) but it was a pain to get all that organized. So I came up with this:
Each child has a “color” associated with them and I used large construction paper and taped envelopes to it with each day of the week/morn/afternoon/evening labeled on it. I flip open the cubbard pull out the chores for that time or day of the week and plop them in their chore packs. It still needs some tweaking but I’m gettiing there.
It looks nice and organized, but does it really work?
The first day of chore packs:
Me: Put your chorepacks on.
Liam: What does this say? (by the way, most of the choreware has pictures for prereaders but some don’t…he has amixture of both)
Me: It has clothes on it, so what do you think you need to do?
Liam: Get dressed.
Me: Okay, go do your chores.
Ten seconds later, out comes a fully clothed (although not coordinated…sweater and shorts) Liam. And it happened again, and again, and again.
Our biggest struggle is getting them to keep the chorepacks on instead of flinging them around or laying them down somewhere. If that happens, they get disciplined automatically for that.
I have a feeling next week is going to be tough since we have been inconsistent with the illnesses going on.
Last thing, the goal is to have them work their way out of needing a chore pack as it teaches responsiblity. a goal of mine is to teach Zoe how to cook/help in the kitchen and I included that in her chorepack. After one week of using the chorepacks, before I could request that they be put on, Zoe was in the kitchen at mealtimes asking how she could help. Of course, she’s also the first born/responsible one to begin with. But it helps me to prioritize and organize and get done what needs to be accomplished.
