Rebecca is a mom to two young kiddos and, in her spare time (ha!), likes to pretend she’s a back-up dancer, craft cocktails and run long distances. A relatively recent SAHM, she blogs family-friendly activities, DIYs and celebration fun at Not-So-SAHM.
I love, love the relaxed nature of summer. Sure, we have some scheduled activities, but we also spend lots of time puttering about the house, splashing at the pool, and running free outdoors. Around this time of August however, that running free starts to feel like running wild. And we all start to crave a little organization. We’re not quite ready for school to start up again, but I am more than ready for the kids to start picking up their wet bathing suits off the floor and realizing that soon we’ll have a schedule again. And I was so happy to find The Land of Nod’s “Gobs of Jobs” to help my summer-loving kids make that transition!
We like to make everything a festive occasion in our home, so in addition to putting together this fabulous chore chart for the kids, we decided to add a little incentive by using Paper Source’s Dot’s Paper Chain Kit to spell out some rewards. The kids LOVED this craft (which is very easy for kids to put together and would be great decoration for any occasion. It also happens to totally color coordinate with the Nod chart). They had a great time dreaming up rewards for which they’re willing to work, and using some super cool puffy gelly roll pens to write out their wishes (another good way to ease them back to academia — they’re at quite different writing levels and neither one particularly likes to practice). We’re still negotiating how many stars are needed to earn everything, but so far they’ve identified a Monopoly game, Avengers LEGOs, each a new haircut, two dollars, a mani/pedi, and jewelry as their initial goals. Cami also initially wanted to include “friendship,” but we decided that was a freebie.
Once they’d identified goals, we worked together to pick out chores for a particular week. One of the things I love most about Nod’s “Gobs of Jobs” is that the chores range from simple and aspirational (Reach for the Stars!) to more advanced for older kids (Take out the Trash). My kids are in serious need of real chores, so that’s what we stuck to for the first week. Now I can’t say that they do everything every day, but the fact that the chart has worked to even get a few things done each day is awesome. Here’s to getting everyone in shape before school starts!
What are you doing to get ready for school? Tell us in the comments below! And, as a special offer to our readers, use the code NODDY for 10% off anything at The Land of Nod. (Offer ends August 24, 2015.)