Brennan's Chore Chart

I wanted to share with you Brennan's Chore Chart. We've been using it for about two months now and it's working really well for us. For quite sometime I knew I wanted to create some kind of chore chart for Brennan, but wasn't exactly sure if he should get paid for them or just do them as a contribution to our family. I then had an epiphany one day when Brennan was asking for a new iPad game. He loves playing his iPad and there are so many great and educational apps for him to play. However, it was getting out of control how often he was asking and we were downloading new (mostly free) apps for him. I decided that he could earn a new iPad game on Fridays if he completed a certain number of chores during the week.

We are already on our second version of the chore chart. The first version didn't have quite as many chores and I kept thinking of more good ones for him to help with and created our current version. This picture doesn't really show a typical week. This past week was the first week Brennan didn't earn a game on Friday. Daddy was home most of this week, so our schedule was definitely more relaxed than normal and several days Brennan said he didn't want to do his chores. I kept reminding him that it was his choice, but he likely wouldn't earn a new game on Friday. He said he understood and once Friday rolled around he was fine not getting a new game for the week. I think we will be back on track this coming week with Daddy being back at work.

Brennan has chores he can do on Monday-Friday. He earns a check for each chore he completes each day. His daily chores are:

• make your bed
• dust the TV stand
• unload the dishwasher
• clean up toys
• feed fish
• dress yourself

Almost all of these require help from me. We complete quite a few of them first thing each morning. Once Brennan wakes up and uses the potty, he comes back into his room and helps me make his bed. I pull up the sheet and cover and he hands me all his pillows and stuffed animals. Next, we usually head to the kitchen and he helps unload the dishwasher. He loves pulling the clean silverware out of the dishwasher and helping me put that away. He also unloads the unbreakable dishes from the both the top and bottom racks. Then I sit him up on the counter and he gives some fish food to fish. So most days he's able to earn three quick checks within the first few minutes of waking up.

I put the 'dust the tv stand' chore on his list because our dang tv table gets so incredibly dusty and I was tired of dusting it almost every single day. So some days I'll spray dusting spray all along the top of the stand and Brennan comes behind me with a rag and wipes it all up. I debated putting 'clean up toys' on this list, because if Brennan makes a mess it is just a requirement that he cleans it up. I decided to include it though because Bryce makes huge messes and I often have Brennan help me clean those toys up too and that's when he earns a check.

Now that Brennan is four I am encouraging him to do more and more tasks independently. I have hindered him some in this area because it's usually faster for me to put his shoes on him than have him do it himself, but I've learned to slow down and make him try things on his own. He had absolutely no interest in even attempting to dress himself until I put it on the second version of the chore chart. He still likes some help with his shirts, but has become much more independent with his clothes now.

Since there are six possible chores each day and a total of five days, he has the opportunity to earn up to 30 checks. My next task was to come up with the number of checks needed to earn a new game. I decided on 20 checks because that was an average of four checks each day. Some days we don't run the dishwasher, so he won't earn that check. I don't pull out the dusting spray each day either (even though I probably need to), so 20 checks seemed like a good number.

Typically as Brennan is having iPad time during the week, an advertisement will pop up for some game and Brennan will say, "Mommy I want this game." Now my answer is super easy and I tell him that might be the game he wants to pick on Friday. So far only one game he has picked has cost money, all the rest have been free. We usually make him select two older games to delete from his iPad before downloading the new game.

I'm still interested in Brennan earning an allowance and teaching him about saving, giving, and spending, but for now this chore chart is working really well for us.