If you were 7 or 9...
would a quarter a day motivate you? And if you earned all 7 quarters for doing your chores without fuss or fighting or reminding, your total was raised to $2?
I feel like all I do is fight with 2 kids to do their chores. I'm tired of feeling like the world's worst parent because I end up resorting to yelling, threats, & following thru with threats.
Korra's chores are: recyclables to the bin, set the table for dinner, help clear the dinner table, clean her room, make her bed & putaway her clean laundry
Xavian's chores are: empty the compost bowl, empty the bathroom wastebasket, prepare & carry drinks to the dinner table, help clear the dinner table, clean his room, make his bed, & putaway his clean laundry
Together: clean out backpacks, keep trash & toys cleaned out of he car, clean up the backyard after playing outside, take turns feeding the dog dinner
Do I expect too much out of them?
Re: If you were 7 or 9...
I think that's reasonable. And I would think if you say a quarter a day I wouldn't think it's much at that age.
Maybe say $1.75 a week (makes it sound like more! lol) That would motivate me at 7 and 9!!!
I think those are reasonable chores. You are doing the right thing no matter what. It's all part of learning the responsibility they need to be good adults and one day good parents.
I think maybe tell them the weekly rate, like butler said... It'd be more a motivator I think.
Miles (6 year old Maine C00n mix), Boots (5 year old Lab mix), Darla (4 year old GSD/Collie mix), Frankie (1.5 year old DSH mix), Peanut (15 months old - 09/11), and Bean (arriving Feb 2013).
^^^This is a more motivating way to go about it to me.
Also, my friend has this awesome chore system that I intend to borrow when my kids are old enough. She has a can with different colored Popsicle sticks in it. There are different chores written on the sticks and the different colors are worth different amounts of money. For instance, yellow sticks are things they have to do without payment (get up and get ready for school w/o a fuss, put their dishes in the dishwasher, do homework, etc). Green sticks are things that happen frequently and earn them a nickle (feed the dogs, set the table, etc). Blue sticks are chores that occur once a day and will get them a dime (empty the compost bowl, bring the dogs in from the kennel at night) and red sticks earn a quarter and only happen once a week (clean dog poop out of kennel, take out trash). At the end of the day, the child has to tally up the total and bring the sticks to Mom or Dad for "sign off" that they actually completed those chores. If the "must do" yellow stick chores didn't get done (without a fight), then they lose payment for any monetary chores they may have done. If they forget to have the parent record their earnings, they don't get their money for that day, either. At the end of the week, they get their money. She has 4 kids: 5, 11, and two 12 year olds and it's working great. Sometimes one kid "steals" all the high earning chores, but most of the time they are pretty good about sharing responsibility. It's a great lesson in both responsibility and money management.