"It's a Hard Knock Life!" (by Heather)

I don't know about you guys, but when we were growing up we had CHORES.  I don't remember what they were, but I remember DREADING Saturdays. That's when we were really expected to do our chores. We weren't exactly singing "It's a Hard Knock life" like the orphans in Annie, but I seriously did not want to get out of bed on Saturday because I knew it would be an entire morning (and usually some of the afternoon) full of chores. There was no rest for the weary until all your chores were done. I hated Saturday because of it.

Pretty sure this is Bethany on a Saturday morning

As an adult, stay-at-home mom, and recovering "Saturday chores" victim, I understand that chores are important (and I am a firm believer in them), but I try to limit my kids and my chores to as few as possible on Saturday. Now instead of dreading Saturdays, we dread every day...oh wait....

(Left to right: Ashley, Whitney, Haley, Derek)

But seriously, maybe it's not really limiting chores on Saturday but more that everyone is in a routine of doing them each day, so that when Saturday rolls around, it's not such a shock to our systems.

This picture is a shock to my system, what am I doing???
(Left to right: Whitney, Haley, Justin, Bethany, Ashley, Heather)

Now I realize that my kids/my family is pretty young and my husband and I are relatively inexperienced parents (considering our oldest is 6), so of course I'm not saying that what we do is perfect or would work for everyone or whatever. All I'm saying is, we have something that works for us and I am so grateful and excited about it! Of course probably the day after I post this the kids will stage a coup and we'll have to start all over again. But for the time being, this is what we do at our house....

My kids are pretty young: 6, 5, 2, and 18 months. Although they are small, most of them are capable of being a great help around the house. So I'm doing them a favor by helping them fulfill their potential, right? They can thank me when they're older...

But really, having some chores is so great for them for so many reasons: teaching work ethic, contributing to the family, feeling a sense of accomplishment, and above all - preventing them from saying "I'm bored!" When the kids are done with their chores, they feel like they've really helped - and they absolutely have. They're happy and I'm SO happy.

Luke is 6 and the oldest, so theoretically he's got the hardest jobs...

Luke is totally capable of making his own bed, brushing his teeth (yeah, that still needs to be on the work chart or it probably wouldn't happen), fixing his hair (...ish), taking 2 different baskets of dirty laundry downstairs, bringing up his own clean laundry and folding it and putting it away, emptying a rack of the dishwasher, doing his homework, putting his backpack away and his lunchbox in the correct spot for the next day, cleaning up the outside toys, filling the water purifying thing in the fridge, and cleaning the toy room every day. Does seeing this list make you think I am a lazy mom? If he's doing all that, what in the heck am I doing?...Bon bons....

Jensen (turned 5 last week - still accepting birthday gifts if you were wondering)

Jensen does a lot of the same types of things Luke does (thanks to how competitive they are) with some variance: he puts the dishwasher silverware away, takes out the trash and tidies the bench where we store the coloring/art supplies. You'll also notice on the chore charts that the top 7 or so are outlined in a highlighter and kind of grayed out (on all the charts). That means those chores have to be done before school or no money, though they'll still have to do the chore either way. Sarah was right in her post when she said I am the meanest mom!

Eliza (2)

Eliza is obviously a lot younger than the boys so her stuff is slightly easier: going on the potty (she thinks if you go at night, then you're good for another 24 hours - so yeah, it's on her chore chart so she does it in the morning), she does a different tray of silverware, puts all the shoes away at night, tidies the upstairs book supply, helps take out the trash, etc.   - Now you are sure I am a lazy mom! I make my 2 year old work? Yeah, MEAN.

They each get 2 cents a job. If I could afford more then I would pay more, but 2 cents is what my budget allows and the job market isn't very good around here so they're just glad to have a job ;)

And seriously, they don't know the difference. I pay them on Saturday after they've finished their chores for the day, and they get about $1.44 in quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies and they think they are totally rich! And for a 6, 5 and 2 year old - they are!

Every month or so they buy a $5 toy which rejuvenates them so that they are begging for more chores. It's a win-win! If we're singing "It's a Hard Knock Life," we're having a good time doing it!

(Ashley, Bethany, Haley)

 (Haley, Whitney)

 So what are your secrets for getting your kids to do chores? I need to find something that will work for my lazy 18 month old ;)