Every mom wonders, at one point or another, how to motivate a child to help with taking care of the house. We all know it’s not only about the actual doing of the chores. Gosh, in most cases, it’s a whole lot easier for a mom to do the chore than it is to teach the child how to do it and to follow up on that. Worrying over chores is far more about teaching the child responsibility, personal care, and, eventually, how to live on his own.

In adoptive homes, there is an extra aspect to consider that presents even more importance to helping our children through the good and bad of chores. For adopted children, they may sometimes question their place in the home. Chores reinforce daily that the child is part of THIS family, that THIS family needs him, that THIS family works together on THEIR home. One way to help with chores and keep things fun is to use fun charts.

Chore charts/Behavior charts

Everyone has seen chore charts and behavior charts. I’ve known people to spend quite some time and effort into preparing one elaborately done chart. While they are fun to look at, my experience is that their effectiveness only lasts until the children get bored. At that point, the charts totally lose their motivation. My experience also is that the more time I spend making the chart, the more I have invested in making one particular chart work – even when it is pretty obvious that its use is gone for the children. Consequently, I’ve changed my methods. Now, I use different types of charts, mix it up often, and keep it fun. Use charts for different purposes also: sometimes for chores, sometimes behaviors, sometimes fun, sometimes helping a sibling, sometimes doing a service for someone

Like I mentioned in the previous blog about getting kids to help, it’s part of the art of parenting to mix things up with your charts often, to keep them fun, but to also remember to keep charts long enough that your child(ren) are able to use them most effectively (remember to do things, long enough to learn to do a task well, etc.) These two things are different for every child and every family. It’s important to know your own family well enough to get the most usage out of all forms of charts and paper record keepers.

Create your own charts or select from one of many online sites offering free charts. Find what works for you and your family and have FUN working together!

Look for more blogs with fun ideas to motivate your kids around the home!

Internet websites offering free printable charts:
http://www.latitudes.org/behavioral_charts.html
http://homeschoolcentral.com/special.htm
http://www.chorebuster.net
http://www.tipztime.com
http://www.chartjungle.com
http://www.gomominc.com
http://www.printablechecklists.com
http://www.dltk-cards.com/chart/
http://www.freebehaviorcharts.com/
http://www.easychild.com/Free-Printable-Chore-Charts.htm
http://www.easychild.com/ParentingWeeklyBehaviorChart.htm
http://www.easychild.com/How-Easy-Child-Works.htm
http://www.do2learn.com
http://www.2girlsandawebsite.com/AdoptNC/ChoreBoard.html
http://www.2girlsandawebsite.com/AdoptNC/SampleRules.html
http://www.disciplinehelp.com/
http://www.kidsactionchart.com/what_is/index.htm
http://www.choreworksheets.com/