How many times do you find yourself saying, “Pick up your shoes, put your plate in the sink, hang your coat up?” If you’re anything like me, it’s a phrase that seems to echo throughout the day.
As a mom, keeping track of our kids’ chores and responsibilities can feel like a never-ending task. In today’s blog post, I wanted to talk about a simple tool that I put together for my kids.
It has made a big difference in our house: I just went to the store and bought clipboards and created these DIY command center clipboard charts.
I was so, super excited to put my command center together but that is for another post.
Today as part of my series of posts about my command center, I wanted to share how the clipboard chore charts have helped me and my kids keep up with their jobs.
Whether you have a large family like mine or just 1 child, things can get crazy fast.
Just let those dishes not get washed for one meal, and we will have nothing to eat on the next meal. We have been there and done that so many times.
That’s why I like planners, calendars, chore charts, and morning routine charts, (That might be for a future post). However, we are going to talk about my little clipboards.
They don’t sound like much, Yet, they are powerful when used correctly.
Correctly, means gently reminding your children of their chore charts if they don’t remember.
With these clipboards you won’t have to remind your kids of what their chores are, they can just go check out their board.
That is a super game-changer. After all, with these clipboard chore charts, everyone knows what to do, and you don’t have to keep up with which child is doing which chore.
In life as busy moms, the less stuff we have to worry about, the happier we are. It is definitely, A win-win!
Why is it important to give kids chores
A household has many things to keep it running. So having help makes it easier for everyone.
Each member of the family makes up the household and it’s important to work together to have it run its best.
Teaching Work Ethics and Responsibilities
As a mom, I desire to raise my kids to be responsible and hard-working. It begins with their young to form these lasting habits.
. Giving kids chores not only helps to keep the house in order but also teaches them the value of hard work and responsibility.
It’s about more than just having a clean house; it’s about teaching important life skills.
Even young children can learn to contribute to the household by completing age-appropriate tasks.
These tasks can include simple things like clearing the table, picking up their toys, or even feeding the family pet. When they get older, you can give them more responsibility as they can manage it.
Learning to be a team
Teaching our kids about teamwork is an important characteristic. After all, if they want to play in sports or any group activity they will need to know how to work together. Assigning chores teaches kids teamwork because everyone has to work together. It also shows each family member that they can count on one another to help. Furthermore, one day your kids will need these skills when they grow up and want to go out and get a job. So helping your kids to learn these habits will help them all through their life.
How to make these DIY chore charts
I am going to tell you how I did mine, however, the sky is the limit on how you and your kids want to make yours. You really can use your imagination or your kids can.
You can paint them, put glitter on them, (if you don’t mind the mess), and let the kids put stickers or whatever you want to do with them.
However, I wanted to add them to my command center that I was putting together, so I wanted them to be aesthetically pleasing to my room.
The supplies you need depend on how you want to make your DIY clipboards.
For me, I was painting them so I used black paint and white paint.
You need wooden clothes pins so you can’t paint and write on them.
For writing on the clipboards, I used a white chalk paint pen. Lastly, I glued jute string with hot glue to the back of the clipboard to hang it. You can find a glue gun at Amazon or a big box store if you don’t have one.
To begin with, remove any stickers that may be on the front your your clipboard. Then I just painted the front and sides of my clipboard black, because no one was going to be seeing the back. That is entirely up to you though, if you want to be both front and back. Remember it’s your and or your kids’ imagination.
While that is drying. Get your close pins and paint halfway down the clothespin with your white paint. I divided my board with daily and weekly chores. So you will need a clothespin for each chore.
After you have painted your pins, set them aside to dry.
Now that your clipboards are dry decide whether you will need another coat on them. I needed another coat. After, you have completed painting them and they are completely dry, next you will get your chalk pen.
I painted to do on top of my board, and I wrote daily on one side of the board and weekly on the other side.
Down at the bottom, I wrote completely. Set the chore clipboards aside to dry.
Check to see if clothes pins are dry. You will need to see if they need another coast. I probably did, so some of my paint looks faded already. See them aside and let them completely dry. You don’t want to write on them if they aren’t.
After all, they have completely dry, then you just write what chore you want on each clothespin. There again, I have chores that need to be done daily like feeding the cats or cleaning the litter box. Or there are weekly jobs like dusting ceiling fans and blowing off the driveway.
Remember the chores are age-appropriate and I have older kids to do these projects.
There you have it, that is how I manage my kid’s chores each day to make sure our homes run in some order without it being in complete chaos all the time.
If you have more than one child, don’t forget to add their name to the clipboard. I just print off each name with a label machine. The one I have is old, but you can find them at Walmart or Amazon.
Then I put it on the back of the clipboard. That way when they take it off the wall, they will know which board is theirs.
I then took cute little chalk labels and wrote their name on it. I put the labels on the wall in my command center, where I wanted each board to be placed, and hung them below my calendar in my command center.
If you don’t want to make these clipboards, here is a free chore chart, that you can download, print, and laminate for your family.
If you enjoyed this post, please share this post so it might give other mamas some ideas for their kids.
If you choose to make these for your kids, please tag us over on Instagram. I would love to see your clipboard chore charts.
Comments