March 3, 2012

The Old Way

Sometimes the Old Way
really is the Best Way!

I thought I needed to revamp
my system
.


Home responsibilities
for the children were divided up.
And matrixed.
And rotated.


But, I found it
was a little too
complicated for my liking.
I didn't have a good handle on
who was to do what and when.

I discovered that I liked the
old way of doing things better.
With adjustments.

Of course.

My old system was lacking
in some areas.
So, it's been overhauled.
And, re-instated.

Each child has a responsibility
or two (or three).
Always.
The same one
(or two or three).

They know what to do
and when to do it.

If something is not being done,
I know which child has neglected their duty.
It's foolproof.
(Is anything REALLY foolproof?)

And easy.

Yippee!

In our system ~
(which, btw, I learned about from
my friend with ten children) ~
The children's jobs stay the same for at
least a year at a time.
This way, they become proficient at them,
which makes it MUCH easier on us all.

Again,
Yippee! :)

How do you manage responsibilities
around your home?
Do you have a chart?
Do your children switch jobs
or keep the same ones?
Or, do you do everything?
(That used to be me ~
But, I found that I really NEEDED
the help of our children.)


On a side note...

I sincerely hope
this type of thing
never occurs in your home if
one of your children is assigned
the task of vacuuming.
It only happened here once ~ LOL!
(Click on the link above to discover
what is wrapped around the power brush...
the guilty party shall remain nameless).

Happy Homemaking!
Camille

9 comments:

Farmgirl Cyn said...

Is that a cat in there, Camille?????
Just kidding...but really...what is it?
We had chore charts, but if memory serves me correctly, we did one week on, one week off. Cause usually I had only 2 kids available at any given time to do chores. The older kids were off with jobs by the time the younger ones were of chore age!

Nadine said...

I too have tried many different ways of keeping a schedule for the children's chores.
What we use now is a print out. It has each of their names and under that is their list of chores. It stays the same for quite awhile, sometimes I switch them if needed. The printout then goes into a clear plastic sheet and is hung on the fridge. They use a wipe-off marker to cross off the chores they have completed. It is not perfect, but so far seems to work the best for our family!
Have a wonderful weekend my friend!

Blessings!
~Nadine

Bevy @ Treasured Up and Pondered said...

starting a chore chart has been on my mind to start this summer. my kids (3 &4 yrsold) are already pitching in ... but it is most likely me, I'm the one who will need to be trained ?(once the chart is in place) to let it go and them truly be responsible.

I know myself, I would rather just do it myself. Quicker...

Patty said...

Oh, my! I'm glad its never happened again. Have a great night, Camille.

Intentional Living Homestead said...

Not sure what is wrapped around the beater head...wire or lots of hair. We also have a Miele...love it.

As far as chores...it changes every week. My kids attend public school. So lots of things are done by me because I am home.

Anika does cook breakfast every Saturday. Emmie does every Sunday. And my children have to clean their own rooms every day and thorough cleaning on Sat. All daughters are responsible for their bathroom downstairs...and boys upstairs.

They take turns vacumming the stairs, kitchen/eating area. Kitchen area is done every day.

Anika and Daniel do most of the laundry after school. Even though I usually get three loads done during the day. Ethan puts the laundry in everyone's room. I have no charts...just in my head and when I see something...I just call someone.

Each of my children have a day of the week (Mon-Fri.) for cooking meals. And that means clean-up as well. Then they are done until their next day.

That's about it. Very simple. But I'm always up for new ideas:-)

BTW: posted my Cheese Sauce recipe. It's really not a recipe as I don't have one...just eye balled it and taste. But if you know how to make a "white sauce", you can do this.

Have a blessed Lord's Day tomorrow.

Connie

Hopes Handcrafts said...

I have a mixture of all of the above...and none of it works LOL! I don't think there's a fail-safe solution when it comes to house work and family members so I just go with what works for me on the day, now :0)

Blessings,
Julia

Camille said...

Dear Cindy ~ Emma's hair!! :-/ Thanks for answering my questions...it makes me feel special. :)

Dear Nadine ~ Great idea to have it on the fridge and to use wipe-off markers to keep track. Thanks for joining in on the question/answer game. :)

Dear Bevy ~ Yes, initially it is quicker to just do it yourself...but, in the long run...boy oh boy does it pay off!!! :)

Dear Patty ~ I am too!! :)

Dear Connie ~ It sounds like you have a great system and LOTS of help around your home! Yippee! And yes, the Miele is a wonderful blessing. Thank you for posting your cheese sauce...yaaay for new recipes! :)

Dear Julia ~ Yes, sometimes *whatever works* is the best way to go. :)

Thank you all for joining in and for answering my questions...it's fun to see what everyone does and what works for others.

Many Blessings,
Camille

Unknown said...

I'm guessing that someone put that vacuum up to their head!

We have a system here that I have used for years. Mondays- clean bedrooms (To my specifications!) Tuesdays- Vacuuming (they each have a part of the house to do) Wednesdays- Bathroom cleaning (again each have assigned parts of the bathroom to clean) Thursdays- a thorough sweeping and vacuuming of the mudroom. Fridays- dusting.

Each week one of the boys is in charge of all the kids laundry and one is in charge of loading the dishwasher after dinner. The third boy has a week off from either of these chores.

All children help clean up after dinner and both Joel and I help with this, too.

Plus they know they are required to pick up after themselves. It got so bad around here that Joel got out a garbage bag one evening and picked up. OH BOY! That taught my boys a huge lesson.

Camille said...

Dear Jenn ~ You're close...the vacuum was put up to Emma's head. :( It was long ago, and has not been repeated, for which I am thankful. Wow...you have a great system with your family...sounds like LOTS gets done around there...how WONDERFUL! Yippee for children who help. :)

Blessings to you!
Camille