OH NO! NOT ANOTHER CHORE CHART! SHEESH!

      I have been wanting to make a chore chart for ages. There are so many options out there that its over whelming!  So let me add one more!
     It is really important to us to equip our kids to become age appropriately independent.  There are so many things kids can do around the house so that Mom is not a pick up and cleaning machine.  This also frees up more time to do things with them and not send them off to do the fun things while I get the chores done.  The kids and I work together for a couple hours of each day. (of course there are days I put them in front of a show and get it all done in half the time, but in general we work together).  Work first and play being a reward is a much more realistic model for life to come when our kids are hopefully productive members of society.  We have grown up and found our age bracket to be lazy and entitled (not everyone of course but its a growing problem).  Just imagine what our kids are gong to face.
     Our goal at our house is to work well together.  Pretty simple but if you are a parent you know that just sorting the laundry together can be EPIC!  So we teach and we train and ask Jesus to help us be patient and kind in the process!  Right!

   THE CHART

      I used vinyl off of a box my Mom sent.  She always wraps our boxes in unused vinyl! She is so fun.  I guess you could use a sticker of some sort if your parents don't own a sign company.  For magnets we use magnet strips (also from my parents shop) which Wal-Mart sells.  Left means it needs to be done Right means it is done. (I didn't label eveything cause that just feels cluttered to me).  The star magnet is on Troy's stripe because he is the "Child of the Day" today.  That just means he gets to do extra chores, pray for the meals, and go first anytime there is a turn.

 Here is a up close.  I hope to make cooler magnets and straight lines one day but I didn't want having it "perfect" to stop me from fallowing through when I finally decided what I wanted to do.

Reward

     This is the reward system to go with it.  One penny for each chore and 5 pennies if they take a proper nap. No talking, no playing, they currently lost their 5 pennies as I type.  I am going go to the $1 store and buy a couple of prizes.  I will put prices on each of the prizes and have "O'Brien Store" once a week or a month, I have decided yet.
     This is not all the chores and work they do in a day, far from it but its the ones I want to reward them for.  For every 10 pennies they earn they will get to take one and give it to Jesus at church.  I'm not worried that a penny isn't worth much, it what I have to work with and the concepts of working hard, being paid and giving back to Jesus first are the key right now.  Abi is to young to get much of this but she loves to be included, so she is.
     Today is the first day.  I will try to write a fallow up in a few weeks once the excitement has worn off and let you know if it is still a helpful tool or just one more thing that we don't really need to do just because it seems like everyone else is doing it.  Today they love it and we have had a really productive morning!