Individual Versus Group Chore Charts
December 14th, 2011 - Category: Charts
If you ask us, there are a million reasons to love My Job Chart. But perhaps one of the most overlooked features is the individual login. You see, by putting your job chart online, your child must use their special login information to access their chart, rewards, and progress. And that means you can make a job chart as specialized as you need to.
When your job chart is slapped up on the fridge, it becomes the business of the entire family. Everyone knows who is assigned what chores, whether they’ve completed them, and what rewards are being offered.
But perhaps you want to create chore charts that are just between you and each individual child. Maybe you would like:
To reward your children separately – older children have more needs. That’s the thick and the thin of it. As your children grow, they get more involved with friends, school, and sports or lessons. If you expect your child to help pay for those other activities, you’ve got to provide a way for them to help. Increasing their rewards is the most natural step to take. But do you really want to explain that to the younger kids?
To be the parent – how well your child is completing their chores should be between you and them. Not between you, them, and the other children who would like to tell you how poorly their sibling completed their task. If chore charts are kept individually, you have insight to the progress your child is charting and can help them decide if and when a chore should really be marked complete.
To help those that are struggling – none of your children are going to have the same skill level or comprehension level. But everyone can help. If you have a child that suffers with an attention deficit or who may not have matured physically as fast as their siblings, you can assign them chores that fit them. And avoid your other children hollering about things not being fair.
To give each child more responsibility – when only you and your child know what chores they are to complete, it’s up to them to get it done. Far too often parents wrap rewards into a collective effort (ie, once everyone’s chores are done then we’ll go out for ice cream). That kind of behavior will help your family encourage each other. But sometimes, your child learns more when they are in charge of themselves.
On the other hand, if you’ve found a group effort of getting chores done works best, then you can work that out with your online chore chart as well. It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish as a parent. But at least with a tool as powerful as Myjobchart.com, you have the option. Chore charts on the refrigerator don’t offer much choice.
Making Chore Charts Fair
November 30th, 2011 - Category: Charts
Life isn’t fair. It’s the lesson you’ve been trying to get your kids to understand for years. But no matter how many times you say it, your children will still expect fairness. It’s almost a disease among young kids – to expect the world to deal with everyone equally.
However, as a parent, you probably do want things to be as fair as possible for your kids. You’d hate to have your children feel they’re getting the short end of the stick. You want them to feel like home is a safe and welcoming place to be.
Now on to the difficult topics. No child really wants to do chores. They only do chores to earn their allowance (or avoid getting in trouble). Even knowing there will always be chores, your child will complain at times. And the last thing you want to hear from your child is: those chores aren’t fair. So here are some ideas to make sure chores stay fair and your children don’t have that excuse to stand on.
Don’t ask them to do anything personal. A friend of mine grew up with the following chores on her chore chart: clean master bathroom, vacuum office, wash and fold all the laundry. In other words, this friend was expected to clean up after her parents. The parents reasoned that they worked all day so the children could surely take care of these additional chores. My friend always resented cleaning up after the “adults”.
Reward them for their efforts. If it’s on the chore chart, then make sure your children are rewarded for it in some way. If you have chores on the chore chart that don’t help the child in some way, reconsider it. Having your children do chores for “free” (unless it’s cleaning their room or doing something similarly personal) is not fair.
Switch things up. If you have more than one child, you’ve got to switch the chores around. Otherwise, you’re going to hear phrases like, “I always have to wash the toilets. It’s not fair.” And that’s true. Unless your children share all the chores, someone will always get stuck with a more difficult lot.
Chip in when things are exceptionally different. After a big event (like Thanksgiving dinner), you need to take kitchen clean-up off the chore chart. That’s simply not fair to the child whose turn it is to keep the kitchen clean. The same idea holds for mowing the lawn after being on vacation for two weeks or doing chores while you have guests in town. Chores should be adjusted according to the circumstances in your house. And chip in when you need to.
If only the world were fair, you wouldn’t even have to create a chore chart. Your children would simply do what needed to be done. But until your children are grown, fairness has to be according to their terms. If you want your home to run smoothly, you need to keep your chore chart as fair as possible.
What’s Your Job Chart Motivation?
September 19th, 2011 - Category: Charts
The kids are back in school. And if you’re like most parents, that means time to re-evaluate everything from schedules, to extra-curricular activities, to job charts. What worked during the summer is certainly not going to work now. But, as you spend time reviewing your children’s chore chart, take a minute to decide what your motivation is. That will help you determine what chores to put on the list, and which to leave off.
For some parents, kids’ schedules are already so hectic, they’d rather spend an extra hour a day with their kids rather than giving their kids more chores to do. For other families, parents struggle to manage the house on their own. They need their children to take on extra responsibilities.
Everyone’s situation is different. But once you’ve determined your motivation – what you need accomplished – you’ll be able to create a job chart that works well for your family. But here are a few words of warning:
If your motivation is spending more time with your kids…try to avoid going too light on the chores. Taking out the trash, though important, is not enough to teach your child to be responsible. Half an hour of chores each day should still leave you plenty of time together.
If your motivation is keeping the house well cared for…try to avoid overwhelming your children. If there are too many things on the to-do list, your children may develop a Cinderella complex. Be fair. Let them help you. But remember that they are still children. They need time for homework and play.
If your motivation is to teach them responsibility…you might want to add a few challenging chores. Again, don’t overwhelm them with work, but a single task that requires some effort (like making dinner) should be your starting point on your chore chart.
If your motivation is to teach them financial responsibility…consider assigning chores with varying rewards. For example, mowing the lawn might be worth 20 points whereas taking out the trash is worth two. Then, let your children pick and choose which of their assigned chores to do and when. This will help them learn to manage their time. Just be sure you have some way of getting all the chores completed.
Here’s one more parting thought…share your motivation with your family. Let your children know why you selected the chores you did. Let them know what you expect them to achieve and why. Children are often more helpful when they understand why they are being asked to help. Then, when situations come up later (and they always come up), you can simply remind your child why their contribution is so important to your family.
Creating a chore chart is never easy. You’ve got to determine who does what, when, and what their compensation will be. It takes a lot of effort. But if you create a chore chart based on something concrete, your task will be much easier.
Are You Resistant to an Online Chore Chart?
August 23rd, 2011 - Category: Charts
Over the weekend, I was surprised to see a Facebook friend of mine post this statement: Just completed what seems like the millionth chore chart/program for my children. I think the greatest accomplishment of my life will be finding a way of instilling them with a work ethic that WORKS!
Why was I surprised? Well, for a few reasons. 1) I obviously haven’t spread the word about MyJobChart.com far enough. 2) Lots of people are still trying to create their own chore charts and struggling to get their kids to follow them.
So this blog post is to serve two purposes. The first is to tell people who have not tried MyJobChart.com to at least give it a chance. You may be surprised at how eager your children are to give this one a shoot. And you’ll love how easily it works…so you can focus on other things.
The second purpose is to discuss the objections parents or kids might have to using an only chore chart:
What if we don’t get on the computer very often? Okay, so many families don’t spend a whole lot of time on the computer. But let me ask you this? Do you check your email? At least on a daily basis? Of course you do. With MyJobChart.com, all your children need is just a few minutes to login and update their chores for the day. Our experience has been that a children enjoy logging in to their own account much more than the paper or chart systems being used right now. Once they get used to it, they’ll have no problem keeping their information updated.
What if my kids are too young to use the computer? If your children are really little, then yes, you may need to rethink your chore chart system. But I’ve known 18 month olds that know how to unlock iPhones and open up their favorite apps. There is no risk for trying MyJobChart.com. It’s a free account. Teach your child how to use it, and if they can’t pick up the process, then you could try something else.
What if I don’t want to spend the time looking up my child’s progress? I’d rather just look at the refrigerator. Here’s the thing…although you may save time by having a print out or chore chart form on the fridge, you’re probably going to spend hours creating your chore charts, calculating allowance, etc. MyJobChart.com let’s you make changes any time you want to and will do all your calculations for you. And hey, if you need a visual update on the fridge, then print off your chore chart and have your children mark both places when they finish their chores.
For every parent, getting your kids to complete and track their chores can be a real nightmare. But with MyJobChart.com, you get all the benefits of something that is fast, fun to use, and easy to adapt if you need it.
The next time I see a Facebook post from one of my friends, I hope it says something like: Using MyJobChart.com to keep the family moving forward. It’s working great.
Over the weekend, I was surprised to see a Facebook friend of mine post this statement:
What if my kids are too young to use the computer? If your children are really little, then yes, you may need to rethink your chore chart system. But I’ve known 18 month olds that know how to unlock iPhones and open up their favorite apps. There is no risk for trying MyJobChart.com. It’s a free account. Teach your child how to use it, and if they can’t pick up the process, then you could try something else.
What if I don’t want to spend the time looking up my child’s progress? I’d rather just look at the refrigerator. Here’s the thing…although you may save time by having a print out or chore chart form on the fridge, you’re probably going to spend hours creating your chore charts, calculating allowance, etc. MyJobChart.com let’s you make changes any time you want to and will do all your calculations for you. And hey, if you need a visual update on the fridge, then print off your chore chart and have your children mark both places when they finish their chores.
For every parent, getting your kids to complete and track their chores can be a real nightmare. But with MyJobChart.com, you get all the benefits of something that is fast, fun to use, and easy to adapt if you need it.
The next time I see a Facebook post from one of my friends, I hope it says something like: Using MyJobChart.com to keep the family moving forward. It’s working great.
How to Create a Good Behavior Chart
March 11th, 2010 - Category: Charts
A good behavior chart can sometimes make all the difference in helping your child develop good habits and encouraging them to continue doing so. Of course it is not the end all be all and other methods of positive reinforcement can also be effective. However, if done correctly, it can be very effective and fun for the whole family, especially for the parent that begins to see the positive improvement in his/her child’s behavior. Here are some steps to take in developing a good behavior chart for your family.
1. Create a Plan for Your Behavior Chart
You should first think about the types of behaviors that you would consider good and the ones that you would consider bad. Outline the good behaviors that you want your children to implement. It’s also important to outline the bad behaviors that you would like to see changed in your child.
Be sure to consider the age of the child when coming up with this behavior outline. A younger child needs more positive reinforcement than anything so it might be appropriate to pick just a few good behaviors that you can reward them for. Older children like teenagers might have both good and bad behaviors outlined.
2. Determine the Rewards for Good Behavior
Once you’ve established the behaviors that you want to see and don’t want to see, come up with a points system or rewards system where the child will be rewarded for good behaviors. Again, for the older children, you might establish a point “withdrawal” system for bad behavior. This will give incentive for the child to engage in the good behaviors and refrain from the bad.
This is a main focus of MyJobChart.com. With our online chore chart, you can assign points for each chore. After the child accomplishes the task, they check it off and the points for that chore are added to their total. Then they can redeem rewards from the points they earn. This is the idea of rewarding children for good behavior. Whether it’s for accomplishing chores or displaying good behavior (which sometimes can be one in the same), rewarding children for doing good is always pertinent.
3. Create the Behavior Chart
You need to decide how you are going to keep track of your child’s good behavior. Whether it is a printable chart, a whiteboard in the hallway, or an online system like myjochart.com, it’s important to choose a system that will be easy for you and is most effective for you and your families needs. If you are looking for some good ideas on different types of chore/behavior charts, this is a very useful post from somewhatsimple.com.
4. Discuss the Behavior Chart With Your Child
It is essential that both you and your child know the stipulations of the plan. The child needs to know the rewards and the punishments for doing good and bad things. Make the discussion a pleasant one. Maybe take your child to eat at his/her favorite restaurant and bring the chart with you to explain to him there (if you’re using myjobchart, bring the laptop. 
Most children, when confronted with an opportunity to get a reward, are eager to try it out. They are excited to start accumulating points so they can redeem them for things they really like. Take advantage of this initial eagerness by showing your excitement as well and making it a fun time for the whole family. Give them a challenge such as, the first to get to 30 points get’s to take a friend and go with Mom to get ice cream.
5. Be Consistent
Finally, don’t allow the new system to be a “one and done” deal. Many parents find that the initial eagerness of kids to do chores or change behavior is short lived. When the going gets tough, it’s easy to slack off and ignore the chart. Make sure that it becomes a part of your daily routine. Missing even one day can be detrimental because after one day, the next day is easier to miss and the next is even easier until it is not being used at all.
This is all on you as the parent to make sure that the chart is successful. If you get bored with it you can rest assured that your child will discard it even faster. Stay enthused, keep encouraging, and keep rewarding. By following these simple steps, you should be able to create a successful behavior modification chart that works for your family. Try it out and let us know what happens. Leave your feedback with the community and gain additional ideas from their responses.
Happy Parenting!