Chores

[Stormieweather]

I have a 6 and 16yr old living at home. Other than helping clean the kitchen after dinner, they don't have daily chores. There is just not enough time after sports, homework, bath, etc.

Every Saturday, we do the real chores. We have 3 3x5 cards with the regular chores divided onto them, as evenly as I can.

The 6yr old has her own card, which contains empty small trash cans (office, bathroom, bedrooms), clean fish tank cube, sweep under bookshelves, and straighten her room.

The other three cards are rotated among me, my partner and the 16yr old. There is no TV, no company, no going out, no playing at all until these chores are done each Saturday. When my son lived at home, his job was the yard - mowing, edging, raking, trimming, etc. as needed. He grew up and moved into his own house though...where ALL the chores are his (lol). So partner now does the yard and I do the laundry/pay bills.

No one gets paid to do normal chores. If they want to earn money, I always have extras they can do, such as wash the car, bathe the dog, scrub the floorboards, or clean ceiling fans.