Last fall a coworker of mine gave Alexander a notepad of weekly chore charts. He loved the idea and it really helped encourage his independence and self-confidence. The problem became filling out a new sheet every week, the paper became an extra chore. We also had the unfortunate event of losing a chart one week, Hannah coloring on a chart another week and few nights out in the driveway digging through the recycle bin looking for the missing chart. I liked the outcome of the chores but it was becoming one of those things where I was working harder at it than the kids. Around the time that I was thinking the system needed to change I remembered I had some Staples Rewards to redeem so I went shopping...
They did have their own packaged magnetic chart system, but I didn't think the layout would work for us and the chore suggestions were a little more than what Hannah would stick with. I ended up getting this great magnetic dry erase board and a package of printable magnetic sheets. I hung the board on the kitchen wall (using those great Command picture hanging strips) as that is a spot that the kids walk by frequently but is out of the way of other items. I then used the printable sheets to create 3 columns; Alexander, Hannah and a section for chores that are Done. I had the kids help me think of chores that they felt that they could do daily and I chose one to challenge them with and we typed those up as well. As I was cutting the chore list items out, Alexander took the scraps and put stickers on them. He then cut out the stickers and added them to the top of the board as extra decoration (I think he likes recycled art more than I do!) which I think was a nice chart. We are now a bit more organized about our chores and I love that we can change the chores whenever the kids are ready for more responsibility.
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