I have said this many times before – I am not a naturally organized person – it is something I need to work at and keep focused at in my priorities. Since being organized is a priority I do lots of things that help me from being totally scatterbrained and flighty. One of the main things I do is to make chore charts – I do have a love for making lists, so I put this talent to use.
One of the chore charts I have posted in my kitchen is the children’s weekly kitchen chore. Since I have four children I assigned one chore per week per child that rotates:
Week One - Cooking
Week Two - Setting the table
Week Three - Clearing the table
Week Four - Dishes
Each child is responsible for helping in their area for one week, the next week they will move on to the new chore. It is easy. I just start each new week on Monday and there is never (okay – normally) any grumbling about helping or comparing what they are doing to what their brother/sister is doing because everyone is doing their fair share. Plus, they are getting the important lesson of how to cook for a week every month (which will help them not to starve once they move out).
Since I have a tendency to just take over and do everything myself (easier/faster/less complaining/etc) this also helps me to remember that it is important to teach my children basic kitchen tasks and responsibility.
This definitely works for me!
Christine
Great idea! I've only got two kids, but I'd rather be the one to clear the table and load the dishwasher, so this will work well for us. Right now the oldes tends to be the one to help the most, which isn't really fair. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI think I need to get my two to start doing little chores like this.
ReplyDeleteYou are right. Having a dinner helper forces us to take the time to teach our children some of the things that we want them to know! Plus, it's a wonderful one-one-one time to chat and stuff.
ReplyDelete