Benjamin has been VERY excited about the idea of “doing chores,” and today he was officially given his first Chore Pack. It just bascially contains his morning routine.. use the bathroom, wash face, brush hair, get dressed, put pajamas away.. stuff like that. He also gets to feed the cat, set the table (good way to learn left & right & counting), and “help Mommy” cook in her food prep slot before breakfast. Since he cannot read yet, his Chorepack has pictures (a wonderful bonus of using the Choreware program), and he’s already memorized what each picture means! Daddy is Benjamin’s partner from 5 to 5:30 AM and Mommy has Ben from 5:30 to 6 AM (obviously we trumped our older children’s votes that each of them be his chore partner.. LOL). He’s got an evening & Saturday Chore Pack, too! Of course, the goal is that Benjamin will do each item in his personal routine & and age-appropriate household jobs properly without any help or reminders, in the time alloted on the schedule for chores. But for a good long while, our little cowboy will continue having a partner showing him the ropes. :^) Lucky us! It’s so fun having a little guy in the house again — what an awesome job parenting is!
He is doing so great! You are doing such a good job with him!
Comment by Darcy Sylvestre — September 3, 2008 @ 12:59 pm
At what age do you start assigning chores? The picture idea instead of words is great. There’s “choreware”?
Comment by Beth — October 28, 2008 @ 6:11 pm
Hi Beth, I can’t remember but I guess around 1 or 2.. not chores on their own by themselves, but starting the training/routine of it. There’s a book called Managers Of Their Chores by Teri and Steve Maxwell which is good about how to train them, ideas for what ages for what chores, etc. If you own that book, they give you the option of purchasing their online program called Choreware for $10 a year — it helps you organize and make chorepacks. I love it. You could make the chorepacks yourself at home too w/out the program or book (if you want to see my choreware online you are welcome to, and then go make your own or buy it). Jaime Clogston made her own chorepacks w/out the program and she borrowed my book. The Choreware has different pictures you can chose for non-readers, or words for the readers. Benjamin LOVES this; i wish I had had this when the other kids were little. In their cases, we took pictures, laminated them, and put them on a magnet board before they could read, or did other things. That worked too but I like the Chorepacks better for the whole family. I *love* the Choreware program. You don’t really need any of this but it’s a cool tool. :^) Happy training! Your Nehemiah is a great joy to see and the way you are training him is wonderful.
Comment by Anna — October 29, 2008 @ 6:17 am