Now that I am working from home, I want to ensure that my daughter learns responsibility and is not just running willy-nilly around the house. So, when I read Simple Mom’s post about chores for preschoolers, we decided to make a chart for our 29 month old. Our chart is not much different from the one that Simple Mom offers here for download. The only difference is that we begin our week on Sunday and our pictures are a little different. Here is a picture of ours:

We have been using the chart for three days and it is great. We wake up at around 8:00 am every morning (or almost every morning) and SWHS must help us make her bed. We go into the kitchen to get breakfast and then she helps unload the silverware (minus the knives). This is her favorite part of the day I think. She has always loved to help and she wants to please us so badly. More importantly, however, is that skills-wise, she was ready for these tasks. She mimics us and when I allowed her to help with the silverware a few weeks ago, she was so excited. It is important to build on that excitement so that children learn that the everyday mundane things (like cleaning, cooking, making one’s bed) can be fun and rewarding.

And speaking of rewards,  my daughter loves stickers (she calls them stickies). She realized pretty quickly that she would get a sticky every time she completed a chore. We did not explain that to her. We just started doing it- after every two task, we would allow her to choose a sticker and then we would show her where to put it on her chart. After only three days she knows where most of them go and what they are for too.

I am all about rewards. I think every child needs to know that work is rewarded. And truthfully, I don’t see anything wrong with a child doing  something because they expect a reward- isn’t that what we all do? We work because we get money. We work harder and hope for a raise or a promotion. Everything in life has some kind of reward even if that reward is just a feeling of satisfaction. As she gets older we will adjust the chart so that she will have to do more to earn rewards.

So far, this system is working well. I will update in a month to see how it works after more time.