Chores are a Chore

Making the kids do their chores has always been too much of a chore for me. Constant cracking of the whip and a waste of time for me. Lots of things I just ended up doing myself because I could get it done a lot quicker without the whining and fighting. I've tried numerous tricks to make it go smoother but never has one worked so well for both me AND the kids. My kids like checking stuff off so a daily chart works best. But to get them doing them consecutively for a month takes incentive. Money just doesn't give them green eyes yet and telling them that they can take that money and buy a little something with it still doesn't make them quite as excited as seeing something they want in front of them that they are working for. This way, I control what they get instead of spending hours at the dollar store waiting for them to decide on a piece of junk toy that they'll loose interest in shortly and will probably just end up in the trash. So this is how it works, every time they do all of their chores for the day they get a star on their chart. For days where they have a long list of chores I make a chart for them to check off along the way. The hardest part of this process so far has just been making sure Alex doesn't do Johnny's chores for him. He is really a lazy kid and cries for sissy to help him whenever a finger has to be lifted. She really wants them to have the same number of stickers too so she really wants him to get his chores done (yes, she has slight OCD tendencies). But she also has a soft spot for him and her mothering instincts kick in any time he's in distress. Johnny knows this and uses it to his advantage. One thing that is never on the chore list but is always a chore for Johnny is bedtime and the other night he was having a rough time admitting that his overly tired body was ready for bed. Since Mom and Dad weren't being too sensitive to his cries he called for Sissy. She put him in bed, tucked him in, got him a drink, books, stuffed animals and sang him a song, or two, or three. As much as he loves having her around to baby him, she loves to baby him. I know this is a little off from my initial story but it comes out every time they have chores to do and I have to go as far as to threaten her if she helps him in any way. I hate telling her that she can't help, it's nice that she wants to do that, but there are plenty of other ways she gets to help him during the day and I want him to learn to do things for himself. So right now I have these sport cups on display for them to see every time they add another sticker to their chore chart and they just keep plugging away at those chores. Everyone wins. Chores are no longer a chore!