Oh I remember, fondly, the excitement at the prospect of 6 weeks off playing in the park every day, weather permitting. Actually what am I talking about, weather permitting? Us 80's/90's kids were out come rain or shine!
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| Summer picnics to the park |
To earn that privilege though we had to do our chores around the house which is fair enough. Having 2 sisters and a brother it was like serious teamwork to get it done as fast as we could, just to get out quicker. We'd take it in turns and swap the type of chore each day but it went something like this... one to vacuum up and downstairs, one to polish the living room and dry the dishes, one to put the dishes away and take up the clean clothes, popping the relevant piles onto each persons bed ready for them to put it away. Easy peasy when you worked together!
The pleasure of receiving receive a Mother's Pride bread bag full of cucumber butties, a 2l bottle of Kwik Save's NoFrills lemo to share, and a tennis or football, was a good enough reward for us as it was literally all we needed for a 9am - 5pm sesh. You'd make friends with the other familiar faces in the park and before the end of the 6 weeks are up, you've got so many in the gang that the whole middle field will be taken up with our one single rounders game!
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| Carson and Finley with 2 of his cousins in the summer holidays. |
These days there's no way I could let a digitally uncontactable Carson go to the park for the entire day, out of my sight. Woah no. My heart pounds at the sheer thought. Mind you, the children of today couldn't be as content with what we had as children. They're used to so much more in every day life. How times have changed hey.
We'll be spending the summer holidays having picnics at weekends as a family and spending the odd few days out in Gulliver's World, Blackpool, Chester Zoo etc. however these things cost so much money so will not be as regular an occurrence as we'd all like. But... just because there's no daily excursion for him, doesn't mean Carson can't do daily chores and take responsibility for the home he lives in with us all.
We've sat and talked about this together, which means not only do I think they're fair, he also believes they're reasonable and achievable. For every chore he does successfully each day, he earns 50p towards his spending money on our day trips. This can add up to quite a lot (needed!!) but it ensures he understands the value of money on our outings.
We also have weekly chores which allow him to earn something like tv in bed (later than usual) or an ice cream from the annoying old van that has a habit of parking right in front of our living room window, teasing us... and deafening us all. How cruel! Typical weekly chores are:
> Empty my washing basket and take all laundry downstairs
> Clean my shoes
> Empty my bin from my room
Do you set your children chores throughout the summer holidays?
I wonder if it's similar to our set-up. Do let me know because I'm always looking to give him more work to do to shake it up for him!
Ahh! They were the days....I'd totally forgotten about Kwik Save's NoFrills brand. lol
ReplyDeleteMy girls both have chores...They're 13 & 8 so have them all year round. Do the dishes, tidy their rooms and toys, put their clean clothes away and change their own beds.
During the holidays I do add a few extra. Empty the bins in the living room, sweep up and my eldest has been helping to hang the washing out...
Eesh! I sound like a slave driver. lol
I used to have to do chores to get to do the things I wanted too - definitely a good way of getting kids to understand balancing responsibility with fun!
ReplyDeleteMilly | Mini Adventures
We were very much the same in my household. I also loved that my mum encouraged me to make a summer holiday diary, I used to draw and write about every day- apparently it kept me quiet!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good post! I don't remember how my folks taught me about chores tbh.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really good to teach kids this kind of thing from an early age that they need to work for things. And a good way of keeping them occupied x
ReplyDeleteIt's so important to teach things like this to children, and combining it with learning the value of money is a great idea too!
ReplyDeleteI used to spend whole days in the summer holidays digging holes in the garden and catching ladybirds... Feels like a lifetime ago!
Jess xo | The Indigo Hours
My sister is 12 and does no chores...I wish she did haha
ReplyDeleteGood idea I need to make mine do more chores, I might get to sit down and drink a hot tea for once then lol.
ReplyDeleteMy 17 month old has just started doing some basic chores. She can bring things to me or carry things to Daddy and she knows how to tidy up her toys into the toy box at the end of the day. I think your chart is a good idea for when she's older.
ReplyDeleteMy almost 4 year old does a few little chores, she loves helping luckily and usually helps more than hinders x
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