chore chart.

Is four years old too young to help out around the house? Absolutely not. Is it too young for an allowance? That's very debatable and I'm leaning towards "yes", it is too young.  That being said, I'm going against my gut and starting a chore chart with a pseudo allowance.

Nate's pretty good about helping me when I ask. He has an eagerness to help, which is both very appreciated and completely appropriate for his age. I want to nurture this desire as he gets older - primarily through understanding how everyone in the family pitches in, but also how he can benefit through some positive reinforcement. I refuse to put another boy out into the world who doesn't know/care how to clean up after himself. Baby steps ...

Right now, Nate has five chores to do every day that he can either do by himself or with minimal supervision:

1. Feed pets (we have two dogs and some fish) 
2. Clean up dirty dishes by putting them into the sink or the dishwasher
3. Help throw away trash 
4. Put dirty clothes into the hamper 
5. Clean up toys every night before bed 

There's (always) a toy that Nate wants to buy and I'm the world's worst for caving when he wants something. It's time to buckle down get the idea into his head that we have to work if we want to play. So for completing all of his chores each day, Nate will get the equivalent of $1 a day until he has enough days to equal out the hot toy of the moment. I feel like that's a little steep but I'm sure we can adjust as we get used to this. 

So how are we going to keep track of this and stay organized? I found an awesome chore chart on Amazon! I really like the clear breakdown of days and chores. It also comes with a variety of ways to mount the chart - adhesive strips and magnets. I opted to attach a ribbon to the top (not included) to get the look that I was going for.  The marker that it comes with has the normal pen on one side and star shaped stamp on the other - I can't seem to get the star come out correctly, but great idea on paper. The bottom of the chart has a way to make a currency conversion ("X" stars = certain reward), plus ways to keep track of other life necessities like brushing teeth and doing homework. 

We're currently three days into this experiment and nearly $3 toward his $32 goal! What can I say, my kid has expensive tastes :)