Chores...Jobs...Chores

Growing up, we always called our responsibilities “jobs” instead of chores. I’m not sure why, but it seemed that calling them “jobs” made them less horrible.  While our friends had to go home and do “chores”, we just had to do our jobs.
The first jobs I remember doing were ironing Dad’s handkerchiefs (with a very cool iron), folding washcloths and towels, and washing and drying dishes.  Scrubbing our little kitchen floor on hands and knees was a fun one too. I couldn’t have been than five years old when mom included me.  She must have known it would take so long to teach me responsibility!
To me, one of the most memorable attempts Mom used to get us to help around the house was a simple poster board. She had drawn a picture of a house on it, and each window was a little envelope with our pictures on them. When we came home from school, we were in charge of the jobs in our envelope. As I got older, the poster board ideas weren’t so cool, and Mom just simplified things. Every afternoon we came home to a jobs list. She wrote our names and our responsibilities down and we could check them off.
Mom was always creative. We’d turn the timer on the stove on and try to beat it. We’d have partners to work with. If we were really luck she’d put in a little surprise, like “eat a cookie” or “get a drink”. This way we never knew what we were going to get.
Now I have begun the task of teaching my own children to work. Our most successful attempt thus far, is the Saturday morning “JOB JAR”. I put little jobs on pieces of paper in a quart jar and they love drawing them out one at a time. We always work as a team because it makes things go quicker and I can keep tabs on what is happening.  Any little bit of encouragement can go a long way.
If there is anything I’ve learned from Mom, it is “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try (and try, try, try) again.”  Something will work. Not for very long, but it will sink in eventually.  Then you’ll try the same tricks with your own kids all over again.
-Heather