Chore charts and gumballs!

In our continued efforts to train our children to help with household chores and practice some skills they will need one day in their own homes, we have started a new chore chart system! Emma Grace and Bella each have their own chart, with a list of chores that need to be completed every day. A year or so ago, I read the book Creative Correction by Lisa Whelchel. She has lots of fun ideas and tips for training (and disciplining) your children. We took one of her suggestions and adapted it to make it our own! Here is what we've been doing for the last two weeks:

First, I typed up and laminated two chore charts, each chart with six daily tasks to be completed. To the right of each chore, there are two little faces- one is a happy face and one is a sad face. I attached a piece of velcro to the bottom of each chart and I wrapped a little piece of velcro to two dry erase markers. That way, the girls can mark on their own charts each day and then we can wipe them off to reuse them! Most of the time, the smiley faces are circled... but when a dirty dish is left on the table or a bed isn't made after a reminder from mommy, the little sad face is marked. Because after all, it is sad to neglect our responsibilities. wink.

As an extra incentive during this season of 'chore training', the girls have each been given two little cups. Emma Grace has a happy face cup and a sad face cup, as does Bella. When the girls circle the happy faces on their charts, they also get to drop a gumball into their happy face cup! (And of course, when a sad face is circled, one gumball is removed from the happy face cup and placed in the sad face cup. It serves as a visual reminder that when we neglect our responsibilities, we also lose priveledges, such as enjoying a delicious gumball.) At the end of each week, the girls are given a baggie filled with ALL the gumballs in their happy face jar! What a sweet treat!

I took these pictures of the girls with their charts and gumball cups. We had fun taking 'happy' pictures for the gumballs earned, and 'sad' pictures for the gumballs that had been lost. wink!


"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."- Psalm 46:1