Disciplining Your Young Child to Teen- With Chores

The children in my family all have basic chores that they have to complete each day.  They do these chores because they are part of our family.  They do not get paid for these basic chores.  An example is that I load the dishwasher, but one of the kids unloads it and puts it away or when I come home from grocery shopping everyone is expected to pitch in to get groceries put away.  These are expected chores and are the cost of living in our home, just as taxes are your cost for living in your country.

If a child wants money, they can do chores above and beyond what is expected, but we also use chores as discipline.   You can refer to my chore chart for some ideas of age appropriate tasks.

Age Appropriate Chores

Last week, one of my kids didn't get off the school bus.  I phoned their cell and no answer.  I phoned the school and they said my child got onto the bus and the bus was on time.  I phoned my child again with no answer and I texted.   Nothing.  An hour and a half later, I get a text back, "Oh, I got off on a different stop to hang out with a friend".  I had not been told where they were going or when they would be back, which is a rule in our house.  The punishment for this was $5.00 worth of chores.  I made up a list of chores and values.  My child is grounded until she completes $5.00 worth of chores.  This means no cell phone, no tv, no computer games, no computer except for homework that is to be done in the kitchen with me supervising.

This is very effective for my kids.  They tend to finish the extra chores as quickly as possible.

The list was:


Wash and dry all bedding and put it back on the beds.   $1.00
Wash/dry/fold all dirty towels                                             .25
Take full garbage outside to can                                          .25
Remove pet food from bowls, wash, dry bowls then refill  .25
Vacuum entire upstairs                                                       1.00
Wipe baseboards in entire house                                         1.00
Sweep front and back entry way inside and out                  .75
Take everything out of kitchen island, wipe inside
cabinet, then return everything                                            1.00
Remove everything from china cabinet, wipe cabinet
and return everything                                                           1.00
Scrub 2 toilets and 2 tubs in the house                                 1.00


I try to give them a variety that they can choose from, but it's all less then desirable jobs.  All jobs must get a parental sign off on completion or it didn't happen.


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Age Appropriate Chores For Your Kids

I was reading responses to my cleaning post and it became obvious to me that a lot of moms think their job is to be the martyr.  I get comments that they can’t possibly keep up with all the chores in my lists.   One mom said she has a family of six including her and she just does not have time to do every chore.  I thought about that for a moment, then emailed her back and asked her kid’s ages.  She said her kids were 14, 10, 8 and 4.  She has four fully capable kids, yet she is trying to do all the work herself!   I decided it’s time for a list of chores that your kids can do. 


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From ages 2-4

At this age, your kids want to help, but may be less capable of helping.  Take the time to let them think they are helping and make small jobs for them.

Fold Washcloths

Carry washcloths to closet

Pick up toys

Straighten books

Dust anything they can reach

Throw items into trash

Throw items into dirty clothes hamper

Help set the table

Dress themselves with minimal help

Ages 5 -6

Clear kitchen table

Put dishes in dishwasher

Straighten their own bedroom

Dust

Fill pet bowl with water (food containers may still be too heavy or hard to open)

7 -8

Replace paper towel and toilet paper rolls

Rake leaves

Prepare snacks and pack lunches (mom will make sure they are nutritious)

Fold towels

Sort laundry

Help put away groceries

9-10

Can cook and use knives to cut.   Your child may be able to do this younger but that is up to you

Sweep floors

Wipe out a tub or shower

Learn to use washer and dryer

11-12

Clean bathroom

Mow lawn

Help plan meals

Adorable Pregnancy Announcement

I am not pregnant but this is SO CUTE!

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Why I would never go to a church that removes its Pokestop

We all know that when Pokemon Go came out, a lot of the pokestops were at local churches.  The point of Pokemon Go is to get out in your community and visit places you have not visited before.  Some churches have embraced Pokemon Go and even allow people playing to come sit inside and quietly play their game while others have filled out the forms and had their pokestops removed.

A local church here had 2 pokestops.  One for the church itself and one for their graveyard.  While sitting in the sanctuary, you had access to both pokestops, but they had them removed.  This church struggles to get people.  It is a small, old church surrounded by new subdivisions full of young people with kids, yet it is dying and the members are clueless as to why.   This church could have had an outreach and offered pokestop bible games for kids, or had Pokestop hours, but instead, they chose to shut down the most popular game in the country.   Instead, they chose to be an old people's church full of hard benches and rules.  I am sure that will go over well with the local mom with four kids.

This is the problem with most churches.  They are so far into, "we are holier than that" that they cannot see that the people in the actual bible had real lives and real families and they had real interests that were outside of the four walls of the church.  Today is the same.  We are real people with real lives, and sometimes some of us just want to play a little online game.  I would have visited that church and sat there before and after service spinning the stop.

In a way, I feel bad for this church, because by removing their pokestops, they labeled themselves as the old people church.  Meanwhile, half a mile up the road, the church with a gym has embraced the game and welcomed anyone who wants to play.

Which church do you think is being more effective?

Learning to Like Foods - Teaching adults and kids to eat healthy

Did you know that research shows that you can learn to like foods?  What if I told you that in a month you and your family could be enjoying a meal full of vegetables?  Emma Francis is a picky eater.  I grew up with a mom who didn't know how to cook and thought that if you stuck a fork in a vegetable and it didn't slide off into two pieces, it wasn't finished cooking yet.  As a result, I hated vegetables.  I hate any slimy texture and the thought of overcooked vegetables still makes me want to gag.

I went out on my own and decided there is a world full of food out there that isn't spaghetti-O's, but by that time I was such a picky eater that I didn't like anything healthy.  Then one day I was reading a way to get kids to eat vegetables and I decided to give it a try.

At first I was scared.  I was too scared to go for a potent tasting vegetable, so I decided to go for cantaloupe.  I hated it.  The thought of all that orange yuk was disgusting.  The first day, I cut a piece and held my nose and licked it.  That was all I could manage.  I LICKED IT.  I couldn't even stand the thought of putting it into my mouth.  This was not going to work and I knew it, so the second day, I stared at it for ten minutes, then put it into my mouth and practically gagged chewing it.  Even two weeks in, I felt that I would never learn to like melon.  I would eat my piece daily, but I was more than happy to toss the rest out when it went mushy.

I am not exactly sure when the transformation took place.  At some point, I looked down, and the entire half melon was gone and I had enjoyed the sweet flavor of it while I ate it.

So far, I have learned to eat rice, green melon and cantaloupe, broccoli, hummus and onions.  There are probably a few other foods that slip my mind right now.

Currently I am working on beans.  Beans are going to take a while.  I can easily eat a ground up bean, like hummus or a white bean dip, but I cant stand the texture of beans in general.  Right now, I am finding ways to hide them in foods so that I develop a taste for them.  I will smash them and put them into spaghetti sauce or chili.  I even smash them and put them into burritos instead of leaving them whole.  Next, I will stop smashing them in foods.  After I can tolerate them whole, I will work on beans by themselves.


Have you learned to like any food?  How did you do it? #vegan #vegetarian #healthyeating #diet Shared with my friends over here:

Kid Fun

Kid Fun