Someone pull the plug, please

As most of you are aware, my situation at home is temporarily different (message me if you are confused). This temporary change has left me feeling like I am drowning. I have not struggled with similar changes in the past quite like this time, and this time the change is in short increments. I will say to myself, I am drowning and I need to pull the plug. One night when I had a long list of things to do after the girls bedtime it hit me. I struggle most after they are in bed and I still need to eat dinner, do dishes, pack lunches, fold laundry, pick up toys etc etc etc. So to 'pull the plug' I need the girls to help me with some of this. In the past I when just ask them to help out when they could, but I never had a regular chore list for them.

Things are different now, I explained to them during this time of change I need their help more then ever. Brady and Reese were very receptive to this. Actually, they were down right excited about it. Lots of people have posted lately about how they organize chores in their home, so here is my new system!

 I believe in choose for the kids. Children build confidence when they are able to make chooses about the direction their life goes, even are 4 and 5. Now, I am not talking careers people, just what they are going to do the next five or ten minutes. So I decided to let them have chooses with chores too. They must do as many chores as years old they are, but they get to choose which chores to do. I wrote the age appropriate chores on a clothespin. When they complete that chore they get to move the pin over to their pipe cleaner letter so they can keep track of what is completed.

If they do more chores then their age, they will then get to choose a prize from the prize bucket (mostly hello kitty $1 or less items) or they can ask for $1. Interestingly enough, at this age money doesn't motivate them, so the prize bucket is always sought after. Brady, almost always chooses to do way more then 5, and Reese always does one more then 4 to take a trip to the prize bucket. I have done this for about 8-9 days now and only once did they choose to just do their age, and that was because they wanted to work on making valentine's instead.

People, for now, they are excited about chores. One day Brady forgot to ask to be excused from the table because she was so eager to do her chores.

So, my girls have pulled the plug, the water has drained and I am breathing again! And top of it all, my kitchen is now swept daily and my dishwasher has never looked so shiny!