Discipline System: Chore Board

Welcome to Works for Me Wednesday, sponsored by Rocks In My Dryer. My tip this week is something every family could use--The Building Brows Chore Board. It's part of a larger, comprehensive discipline system I've devised to keep my family in line.


Conventional chore and discipline systems didn't work for our family because we have so many kids and most of them are resistant, stubborn types who balk at doing nearly anything they are told to do. I needed something to take chore responsibility off me and put chore responsibility on my kids.

I came up with this system after I saw the Dugger Family on the Discovery Channel. I was desperate and I saw potential for our family in their buddy, chore, and ladder system. (Smockity Frocks wrote about the buddy system in her Works for Me Wednesday post.)

I'll elaborate more on the full discipline system throughout the week, but I'll start with our chore board.


This picture shows our first chore board (not self-healing cork) designed after a dart board. The center cork has partially fallen out, but you can see remnants of the "DONE" marked in the bulls eye. The sections contain pictures I drew of the chores: I opted for pictures so the younger ones could understand.


The way it works:

• Each child has a different color peg (pushpin).
• Before the day begins (ideally--sometimes I don't get to it right away), I set the chores by placing each child's peg on the chore they are supposed to have that day.
• When they have completed their chores, they move the peg to the DONE bulls eye.
• The kids must fulfill their chores by the end of the day or be penalized on the privilege ladder. (More on that later.)
• Kids are not allowed to move or reset pegs without a penalty--they may only move their peg when done with a chore. (They're sneaky and sometimes try to switch chores.)

The wonderful thing about this system is that even though the kids know that I or Jim set the board for what they have to do each day, they know they are responsible for what gets done. Since we have a chore board telling them what do do, they don't resent us for ordering them around. (They hate that!) They see at a glance what we expect from them that day and learn to manage their time to get it done. They learn that if they wait too long, it is unpleasant for them, but if they do things sooner and with a good attitude, they reap rewards.

It took about a year for our kids to acclimate well to our entire system, my friend adopted our system, and her kids took to it right away. They love it.


NEXT POST: How to make your own Chore Board.

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Tech Tags: chores ~ chore board ~ discipline system ~ chore chart

Ice Rocket Tags: parenting ^ kids ^ chores ^ board ^ discipline ^ brow ^ family

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