The “Citizen-of-the-Household” chores are responsibilities that everyone in the household is expected to do. For instance, my kids had to keep their rooms free of breeding diseases, and they didn’t get paid for that.
Like countries, households run on concepts of citizenship. We all share a planet, a country, a community… and a family. Good citizens pitch in and perform their voluntary jobs to make things better for all.
Since Citizen-of-the-Household chores are based on good behavior, the punishment for not doing a task is to take away a behavior (e.g., no television, no video games, or no texting), not docking their allowance, which is compensation for a Work-For-Pay chore. (See the “Work-For-Pay” activity and chart for more information.)
You are the CEO of the household; you assign weekly responsibilities for each child, which will inevitably vary from family to family.
Here is a sample list of age-appropriate Citizen-of-the-Household chores:
- Brush teeth
- Get up on time
- Go to bed on time
- Hang up your clothes or put them in the hamper
- Hang up wet towels after use
- Help out when asked!
- Put cloth reusable grocery bags in the proper place
- Put toys back after use
- Take a bath/shower
Instructions for Citizen-of-the-Household:
- Download the “Citizen-of-the-Household” chart
- Print a chart for each child
- List the chores down the left side
- Explain each task to your child
- Show them what is expected, explicitly, for each responsibility (and model the behavior)
Each day, as your children complete their Citizen-Of-The-Household chores, allow them to tell you if they think they finished the task appropriately. They can then check off the applicable box.
Then, you inspect what they’ve done and decide if the chore was completed to your standards. If so, check off the “Chore Well Done” box.
Younger kids love “star” stickers that you can also put on the chart to indicate a “job well done!”