The mess in our house has been out of control lately. I have four kids under the age of seven, and they have an immense amount of creativity (which I encourage and enjoy). I tend to think we can play all day and then take an hour to clean up, but that doesn't work so well for my little boys, who usually fall off task if we wait until the end of the day to clean up.
Enter my newest invention: TEN-MINUTE CHORE TIME.
Here's how it works. It's the morning, or the middle of the day, or sometime in the afternoon. Kids are playing. They've been playing for an hour solid, and they've left a lot of toys in their wake. The game is going great. Or maybe it's not, maybe they are starting to rub on each other's nerves.
Enter Mom.
"Hey, kids! It's time for Ten-Minute Chore Time!"
I give them each one or two tasks in different areas of the house. I just did this for the second time today, and the baby was sleeping, so I wanted them to do their tasks rather quietly. I sent one child to unload the dishwasher, one child to do several small laundry tasks, and one child to help me pick up excess toys in the living room (where they are currently making a monstrous fort). Each kid stayed on task, got the job done quickly and efficiently, and then they went back to playing... with no complaining! Sooo much better than trying to clean up everything at the end of the day, or nagging at them while they are playing to also maybe kinda pick a few things up as they go.
My goal is to do Ten-Minute Chore Time three or four times each day. It's not a big, complicated system. It's just a simple way for us to clean up as we go, and at a time when it's convenient for me to make sure I keep the kids on task. Keeping it to ten minutes (or a little less, to start with) makes it easy to stay on task. There are no parameters written down on a list that means that this kid only has to do this task, or whatever, so Mom can assign what seems fair and appropriate in the moment. Limiting it to ten minutes makes it possible for the kids to accomplish the task and earn the satisfaction of a job well done.
Ten-Minute Chore Time! Give it a try. Let me know how it goes!
