Responsibility!

In the interest of preserving Mom and Dad's sanity, instilling our children wtih a good work ethic and sense of place in our "community", and just because I think it's time, we've been focusing on the kids helping out more around the house. We had a pretty good FHE about it, we've instituted Chore Charts for all the kids (the boys had an after-school chore duty sheet before) and we've promised to be more on top of allowance doling. I know, current parenting philosophy is that children shouldn't be paid to do what they are already supposed to around the house - they should do it just because they live there. And part of me definitely agrees. However, I also believe that it's important to teach the kids how the world really works: you have a job with parameters, and when you perform your job as expected, you receive compensation. Don't do your job, no money. I guess I favor realism over idealism too much. And we did explain that there will be things we ask them to do that aren't on the Chore Chart, and they won't receive money every time we ask them to help out. The Chore Chart items are what they receive money for. Anyway, even prior to this, I had started having the kids fold their own laundry. We dump it in a big pile, they sort into their baskets, fold and put away. It's so nice! Here, on Laundry Day:

Of course, Mace needs many, many reminders to stay on task, Monster (if she's in a mood) just wallers around saying "I can't!" to everything I tell her to do, and Tristen is very responsible, but also quite bossy. It's a work in progress. :)