Jobs for the Kids - Revised...

I have talked before about Jobs for the Kids and how I organize weekly work opportunities for my boys.  Lately, they have been more and more reluctant to get their jobs done and I have gotten a lot of eye rolling from them both.  I know that there isn't a kid around who truly likes to get his chores done {myself included!} but it's important to me to teach them all the life skills they'll need.  Being good employees, doing quality work and getting the work done on time are all things they'll need "in the real world".

I decided that they might be getting bored with the same jobs week after week.  Everyone likes having choices and my boys are used to having lots of choices in other aspects of their lives.  It took me awhile to think of a new system.  I need to have something that makes my life easier and a complicated job system does not make anything easier.  I also wanted them to have choices within reason, there are only so many things around the house that need to be done.  Finally, I came up with this...

I found a small glass jar at the Hobby Lobby and used my Silhouette to add the vinyl letters {Side note...I just love my Silhouette!} 

The jar is full of clothespins.  On each clothespin is one of the jobs that needs to be done along with the value of the job.  {I also use jobs to teach my kids about money management and saving so they need to earn enough to be able to blow it all on cheap toys or be able to save up for something worthwhile in a few weeks}  I printed the jobs, cut them apart and then stuck them to the clothespin with mod podge.  This literally took about 5 minutes...I was running late, I counted...they look lots more crafty than they actually are!

Chosen pins were stuck on their clipboards so they could keep track of what was on their docket.  I set some parameters for the jobs that were chosen.  Both boys needed to choose a bathroom, both boys needed to clean their rooms, and they could each choose a vacuum/dust combination.  With the remaining jobs, they were free to divvy them up as they wished or leave them in the bucket.  In this way they got to choose which jobs they were doing and also, to a certain extent, the amount of money they were going to earn.

I am not naive enough to believe all my troubles are solved and my boys are now perfect employees.  However, jobs this past weekend went much more smoothly.  And one great day is worth it!

How do you keep your kids organized?