Getting Everyone to Help

With the blessing of a large family, comes the blessing of many chores. We have nine people in our home and we tend to make a great deal of laundry, dirty dishes and small messes. If I were to take care of everything in the home on my own, I would never sleep and still not be done. So, we have a chore chart and have divided the chores among everyone in the house. (ok, not the little one....he has started throwing his own trash away, but he won't start real chores until he is almost 3)

One of the things I have learned about chores and getting them done, is to keep the fun in your day and keep them excited about helping. The little ones often reject the idea of doing chores because they want to play or watch their favorite show or just do anything but chores. We have found that by putting a little fun into our chores we can get everyone involved. Here are some ideas we use:
     -Sing songs while cleaning. Some of our favorites are "The Clean-up Song," "Jesus Loves Me," "ABC," and a personal chant.
     -Make it a race. When we have an area with many items out of place, we like to "race" and see who can get the most items in their bin in an allotted time. This works very well when picking up specific items like crayons, books, blocks and such.
     -Use the squirt guns. This is a new idea that one of our daughters actually used to get the boys more involved. She took some plastic items that needed cleaning out to the drive way and let the boys go wild with squirt guns and rags. They had a great time and our items are nice and clean.
     -Let's shoot some hoops. Our favorite way to take care of dirty clothes or misc. papers, it to play basketball with them. We put the basket or garbage can in the middle and everyone shoots. This also works for some toys, but not for anything that will break :-)
     -Get dressed up. Our children have some fun aprons that they can wear while cooking and cleaning.  They really aren't anything amazing, just something fun to brighten a mundane activity. Some days dressing up gives us the little boost we need to get the work done.
     -Find what they are good at. One of the hardest things to do with chores is to find something that everyone can do. Our little ones do things like: wipe the door knobs and light switches, feed the dog, take the recycling to the bin and pick up toys. Some people in the family like doing dishes, others like to vacuum. About once a year, I list all the chores that need to be done and we let everyone pick the tasks that they would like to complete.
     -Relax and compliment. There are times when the chores aren't done exactly how I would like, but teaching our children responsibility, to do their best to help the family is truly more important than a super clean home. It is also very important to tell them when they do a good job. Everyone loves encouragement!

May God bless you today as you encourage your children to help you and your family be good stewards of what God has blessed you with. Have a happy chore day!