This right here is the ONLY chore chart that actually works! (That I've ever used that is...) My kids are ALL over it... and are actually doing chores!
Who would have thought!?
I did change it a bit from both versions, and made it suitable for our needs.
First of all, I didn't a have Pocket Chart, nor was I about to buy one for $50 including shipping. So, I made one. A large piece of Bristol, some business card binder pages and some flexible glue (Rubber cement, plastic glue etc.). Do not even attempt to use regular white glue - it will not work. (Trust me... I learned the hard way!)
Unfortunately, I did not take any photos of the 'making' process, so I'll try to be very descriptive. Have a look at my photos below... cut the business card pages, so you have a row of half pockets (obviously so you can insert the cards into). I also cut the front of the pocket a bit shorter than the back, to make it easier to insert the cards.
The whole project, including the card stock for the cards/tickets cost $10.
Then I hit up Walmart and picked up a bunch of collectible erasers, Zhu Zhu pets (on sale for $3!), balloons, flashlights etc...
This stash was under $40 and will last a very long time.
I found many of the printable cards to be out of date, or out of culture - and certainly didn't apply to us. (Bringing in the milk?) So I did many of my own cards, targeted towards areas that we really need to work on. PJ's under pillow, dirty laundry in the basket, put away shoes and back pack... etc. In addition to these 3, they also get 2 chores a day. So 5 cards in total. When they complete a chore, they (or I - after room checks etc..) turn the card over. At the end of the day, I will exchange these for tickets. We found that not many tickets fit in the pockets, so we use the reward card boxes to check off - equaling 5 tickets. As you might be able to see, I have written numbers on the prizes - indicating how many tickets that prize cost. If they do not want to purchase prizes with their tickets, they can exchange them for 25 cents a ticket.
The Best Bee-havior cards are given out for something extraordinary that the kids do. ie) Listening very well all day, sleeping in their own bed for 5 nights in a row (Mister!), or doing a good deed etc... These tickets will be redeemed for a trip to the movies, bowling etc...
It is working so well, that I am really considering creating one for the hubby! (It's just the reward program I would need to come up with that worries me! ;)
1 comment:
Great System! The system that we use works fairly well too, and it motivates the husband as well. We had to give it a really cool name though because Chore Chart just sounded blah. We call ours the b.u.r.p chart (being unusually responsible people). We use it for the big once a week chores that we do on Saturday, and it starts out with everyone getting an allowance at the beginning of the month (even the parents). For this to work the parents have to be disciplined enough to only buy personal stuff with their allowance, they can't buy them with the "family's" money. At the beginning of the month everyone puts a selected amount of money into a pot. For example, my daughter puts in $4 ($1 for every week). The parents have to put more in because their allowance is bigger. When chore day comes, everyone who completes their chore gets a portion of their money back (our daughter would get $1), if the chore does not get done that day then it is free game for anyone to do. If someone else does your chore, you have to pay them the amount you would have gotten (out of the pot). So if dad doesn't do his job then mister or muffin can do it and get paid the amount dad would have gotten (which is probably a more hefty amount). So it motivates dad to do it in the first place, and it motivates the kids to pick up dad's slack so the chore gets done anyway.
This system has worked pretty well for our family, and teaches money management skills, and consequences.
Good luck finding a way to get hubby involved!
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