Henry has a series of “chores” that we remind him to do daily.
Little stuff.
But important stuff.
He’s part of the team and everyone’s gonna have to pitch in eventually.
The One Woman and One Man Show is about to draw to a close here pretty soon.
Like it or not.
I did a search for chore charts online, but most were much too involved…or, let’s face it…dorky looking.
And if this thing is going to be pinned up on my kitchen wall, it can’t be goofy. (yes, I realize that is ridiculous and petty and no, I don’t care.)
Besides, Henry’s 3. The kid can’t read. (I know! I’m a slacker, right?!) I need a simple system.
Lucky for me, I got an iPhone last week, and trying to find any excuse to use it, and my current obsession that is Instagram, I thought I would marry the three.
So off I went, with my handy dandy iPhone to snap some pics of just what I expected him to do.
And then applied a funky filter to the picture because filters are cool.
I knew I had to break up tasks into smaller more manageable chores…telling Henry to simply “clean your room” overwhelms him. He gets all stressed out, doesn’t know where to start, and eventually cries. I forget he’s only three sometimes. So, I broke it up into tasks he could tackle more easily.
Make the Bed. I have very low expectations on this one. Basically, all I’m looking for is “straightening” the blankets and putting the pillow and bunny back on top. His bed is hard to make with it being up against the wall like that, and while I normally prefer a bed to be in the center of the room, this set up gives him more room to play on the floor with his sisters. And they actually play in his room a lot. So it’s worth it to have it slammed up against the wall in exchange for more floor space.
Put Toys Away. This is Part II of the clean the room series. Pretty self explanatory, but I expect that every single teeny tiny toy is picked up. Every single one. ALL of them. Not even one Lincoln Log in the corner of the room under the bookshelf. This frustrates him sometimes, but I have a theory that this exercise is Step 1 in my “You always do a job well and not halfway” Master Plan. Muahahaha….
Put Books Away. Again, self explanatory. I bought him a couple of heavy bookends to help keep the books from sliding back down. That was a constant struggle and source of frustration. “Mommy I can’t do it!!! They fall!!! You have to do it!” It’s not about setting him up to fail, so off I went to TJ Maxx and came home with the most hideously cool bookends of a bulldog’s head. I really should take a picture for you guys. They’re awful. But they’re almost so awful, they come around full circle to be cool. He thinks they’re awesome. And on clearance for $4 (gee, I wonder why), it was a no brainer. Mission accomplished.
Put Kid Dishes Away. My kids use all that plastic stuff (mostly from IKEA). I knew I wanted to start getting Henry into my least favorite chore ever: emptying the dishwasher. So I actually rearranged all of my kitchen cupboards last week and assigned a bottom cupboard as the Kid Cupboard (it used to be up high). It’s all about making it manageable, remember? It’s organized, with little galvanized tins for forks, spoons and knives. Plates, spoons and bowls have their own space. Cups go on the little shelf in there. It’s such a simple system, even Lucy’s been helping put things away.
Feed the Dogs. Twice a day. Every day. He’s actually been doing this since he was less than 2. But now I don’t have to remind him. (No really, click that link. He’s too cute all little!)
And then I plopped them all into the computer, added a simple table, and words. I realize he can’t read yet, but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity for him to start associating the words with the pictures. It worked even better than I expected because when he woke up from his nap and I showed it to him, he immediately knew what each one was and excitedly started on his chores.
Oh the motivation of a sticker! It’s almost shocking. The chore chart is a success. We’ll see how long it lasts. ;)
Note: Henry has other responsibilities like clearing his space after meals, he adds the detergent and pushes the buttons to start the dishwasher, and other assorted things. But I really wanted to keep the chore chart manageable and un-overwhelming (like that?)…and things that were expected of him on a daily and regular basis. I’m dreaming of the day I can add “Clean the Toilet”. That’ll be awesome.
Do you have a chore chart for your kids? How long did it work in motivating them?
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I think that is awesome. My son is 3 and I’ve been thinking of putting some chores together for him to do, but I was unsure if he was still to young. Right now all he does his clean his room and he’s not very good at it. But I love how you broke it up and made it simplier for Henry. I’m defintely going to have to “borrow” this from you. ;o)
Putting words with the pictures is a great idea! Teacher-school dorkiness: Kids can learn a LOT of words from “environmental print” (think things like McDonalds or Exit or Stop signs.)
Love the chore-chart!
I do not have kids, but this is going on my list for when I do! THis is awesome! the pictures & words are great!
I love this! It is super cute and understandable for little ones. Brilliant!
This is BRILLIANT. Love that you have the pictures of the EXACT chore he needs to do. :) Even if it works a little bit, it’s gotta be better than nothing? :) And stickers as motivation, PERFECT :)
And when I saw you post that picture of the dog food on instagram – I thought it was Cocoa Puffs…is that weird? Haha!
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it’s a awesome chore chart. i should have started when they were as young as yours. they’re still not super great at helping out. pretty close to throwing in the towel. after all… they no longer live here.
sigh.
college. ha! keep your own house clean! mwah ha ha!
LOVE your chore chart! After ten years we are starting to figure it out… after dinner the whole family helps to tidy the house as a reward they get screen time – while mama gets to workout!
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Love it! Planning on doing something similar when my daughter is older. My parents did a similar thing with us as kids. We’d get a star in each box when we’d completed a task and a whole run of stars would equal a treat of some kind on the weekend.. usually a day out somewhere fun or whatever.
i think its FABULOUSSSS. an insta chore chart?! #hipmama
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Love it. I am definitely going to copy this when my daughter gets closer to 3. And I also like the idea of a row of stars or stickers from one of the comments above meaning a weekend treat of some sort. Awesome! Thanks for sharing. I really need to get me an iPhone.
Great Idea! I need to get my alomst-three-year-old boys on this bandwagon. PS- we have the same ikea kids dishware that I bought while I was pregant with the twins. Its one of the few “this is a necessity now that we are having kids” that really was a necessity that I got my monies worth with. A sticker potty chart was key in our potty training sucess, so I am hoping it will be as sucessfull with chores.
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perfect little chore chart! love it!
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I am so boosting this idea when my daughter is old enough to do chores.
I think dusting the baseboards are something her little fingers can handle.
Woot woot!
Love it!
Why the heck did I not think of that?! My daughter is still in her early stages of reading (she’s got CAT and MOP down like a pro)…such a smart idea, and I’m going to use it. Found your post through Tatertots and Jello!
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I <3 this idea. We are starting our master plan. PICK UP TOYS! They. Are. Everywhere. All. The. Time. Every. Day. I got all fancy with my adobe photo shop elements, and made photo tages with words and pictures. I like the insta photo look. We did a clean and dry chart that worked like MAGIC for potty training. I am so alllll over this. What will he get when the chart fills up? or are you just doing the sticker reward thing?
oh, I see this is an older post. ( I am new here. how is it going) The chart thing. Is it still working??
I found your site because I was looking for an iPhone chore app for myself :-). My kids are too old for your idea but it is SO cute. I never used a chore chart for my kids when they were little because I was never sure what chores were appropriate at what age. By the time they hit middle school and started taking up as much room in the house as I do, I figured they could all do the same chores I do :-).
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