197: Creating a Summer Chore Chart for Your Kids: A Step-by-Step Guide

Camille: 0:00

And I think that expressing that understanding of why why do we do these chores? Why do we have to do this? Why should we pick up our toys? Our kids like to ask why a lot, and I think that that's fair, that's valid, and I think that really coming to the understanding of your why could really help to communicate that with them. So you want to make an impact, you're thinking about starting a business, sharing your voice. How do women do it that handle motherhood, family and still chase after those dreams? We'll listen each week as we dive into the stories of women who know this is Call Me CEO. We dive into the stories of women who know this is Call Me CEO.

Camille: 0:54

Hey, welcome everyone to the channel of Call Me CEO. This is a podcast dedicated to women growing and building their lives with purpose, in business and also in life. This episode is specifically for those mamas out there who want a little extra help with the summer chore chart. I put a link for a free summer chore chart in the description below and I hope that you will subscribe. Hey, hey, everyone, it is Camille Walker with Call Me CEO, and here we celebrate women building businesses, but we also have these solo episodes where I share with you things that I do to help me manage the mayhem, keep things together when, whether it's going crazy or it's not, there's always systems that you can put into place to help things run a little more smoothly. And with summer being in full swing, it is time to shift the season and thinking that you're in whether that is something that you are maybe slowing down. You're excited to have less demands on your time, less alarms to adhere to. I've found, more often than not in my many years of parenting, is that summer needs some kind of structure for us to have a more cohesive running home. Now, with this being said, I don't mean to make you believe that it has to look perfect or that every single day is going to look this way and that there won't be times that you get home from a vacation and you're just exhausted and you need a minute to get back in the routine. However, I found that when I stick to something and my kids have an idea of what's going on, even when they're tiny, it really helps them to feel more at ease.

Camille: 2:29

I have read and researched, and even in my background in education and small children and child development, is that kids operate best and behave more the way you want them to when they are in a routine and especially when you have kids that are napping. My husband used to call me crazy because I was so about that nap, but if any of you have known and been at home with young children, you know if they miss that nap it can ruin days Like it can put them off of a routine and it can take a few days, sometimes even a week if they're sick or whatever to make up for that lost time. So today we're talking about how to create a summer chore chart for your kids and a guide to a smoother summer. Now, summertime is the best. I'm all about late nights. Now, especially that my kids are a little bit older, I'm not as uptight about nap times. I have more time to chillax and I always give my kids the first week to do whatever the heck they want. There's no chores they can sleep in. I let them stay up late, but by the time that second week rolls around, that's when we usually get into something of a routine where we have a chore chart involved. Now, last week we talked about making a summer bucket list, so if you haven't listened to the episode. Make sure to check it out.

Camille: 3:52

Now let's get into why having a summer chore chart is so important and how you can make it work for your family. Now I know this may sound cheesy, but understanding why you want chores done in your house is crucial. I think. For me, it comes down to creating a home that feels the way I want it to feel, which is more peace, and to have that organization really helps me to live more stress-free. It can feel more welcoming when people show up unexpectedly, and I want my home to be a place where we can relax and enjoy each other's company without feeling overwhelmed by mess and chaos, and this is something that I've communicated with my family and that I think is essential for them to understand. We talked about this in a few episodes back of a solo episode I did called Power 10, which talks about taking 10 minutes on a timer after dinner is served and everyone's done eating, to have everyone pitch in for 10 minutes to be a part of that cleanup. And I think that expressing that understanding of why do we do these chores, why do we have to do this, why should we pick up our toys? Our kids like to ask why a lot and I think that that's fair, that's valid and I think that really, coming to the understanding of your why, could really help to communicate that with them. Maybe it's because you want to be able to pick up and go have fun without having to clean up after yourselves all the time, and a lot of that.

Camille: 5:19

You see a big movement towards minimalism, getting rid of toys. One thing that I saw someone share recently is they said do not put toys in an area where you do not want toys on the floor, because inevitably, toys are going to be on the floor. That's just the way that it is. So let's say that you have like a front formal room or a living room that you don't want toys in. Of course they'll end up there, but maybe you don't store them there, so maybe you have a playroom. Maybe some people like to keep kids toys in their own rooms. Some people do not. So I think that that's something that, depending on your kids' ages, the stages that they're in their ability to clean up after themselves, decide what that looks like. Where do you want the toys to be and how do you want the family involved in those activities, just like planning the fun activities we need to keep in mind that we plan for cleanup too. This is a collaborative events effort and ensures that everyone is on board and understands the importance of maintaining the home together.

Camille: 6:23

Kids are more likely to engage in the home and the chores when they feel like they're included in the decision-making process. So, just like we had in the summer bucket list, going around and talking about the way that they want the summer to go, I think that this could be a fun experiment to say how do you want the summer to go with getting chores done around the house. Sometimes, when I've done this with my kids, they are more demanding of themselves than I would be. But also I think that anytime I've done a chore list, more often than not I have to switch it up after so long, which is why I feel like, even from like the school year to summer, the way that I do chores is totally different. So that's important for you to decide what's age appropriate for your kids, and you can find that online. Look up age appropriateness for kids and chores. Also your own kids' personalities. You know what your kids are capable of better than I do or better than anyone else. So, while one of my children may have been extremely capable at five to clean their own room. It may be for someone else that maybe they needed until they were eight, I don't know.

Camille: 7:34

Laundry is also another thing, too, that my kids. I typically teach them how to do their own laundry around seven, and it doesn't mean that they're on top of doing it every single week, but that is the time that I teach them and gradually they become more and more responsible for the process of doing their clothes. Honestly, it's the putting away that's the hardest part in our house. I don't know about yours. All right, so let's talk about avoiding the summer slide or the summer slip. That is kind of an academic term that people talk about that through the summertime, when kids aren't reading as much, they go through what's called a summer slide, which means that they may lose some of the cognitive ability that they had with math, science, reading, whatever, and so through the summer, I think that it's not only about keeping the house clean, but it's also about how do we keep our kids' minds engaged in learning and in creativity and doing things outdoors and enjoying nature and really slowing down their brains. There are so many screens around us everywhere, if you know or have been here around for a while. You know that I wrote a program called the screen freeze program, which is all about creating a healthy relationship around screens in your home.

Camille: 8:56

If you are interested in this, please reach out to me because I have printed copies. I'm looking at them right now. They're handbooks with beautiful colored printed pages that I used to sell on my website. They're currently not available. However, if you are interested, I will send them to you for $25, which is basically what it cost me to print them. So if you're interested, let me know. But I think it's really important to include activities reading, using outdoors, coming up with creative time. Also, I have Time for Us Journals, which is available on Amazon. I'll link to that as well.

Camille: 9:35

But there are so many resources and things available for us to keep our minds engaged, whether it's ABC, mouse or summer. Even my older kids will do a few classes that will count for junior, high and high school level classes that they knock out during the summer. Both of my kids last year did like a fit seven or a fit for life class, where it's like a gym class and it kept them active through the summer and counted towards their school year where they could have a free period to do other things other than gym in at the school. So something to think about. But routine is key to keeping a family running smoothly. And I say routine with a grain of salt, like it doesn't have to be like this rigid. This is happening every single day. But you have an intention. You have some what of a rhythm within your family.

Camille: 10:24

Now, effective chore charts don't have to be super intense to be effective. A simple laminated chart that can be checked off is incredibly helpful. This way, when your child asks for screen time or to go out with a friend, you can simply ask if their chores are done, and I always say to my kids I want my answer to be yes. So if I ask you this question, you know what that checklist is. It doesn't need to be discussed. You can just say yes, I'm done, or no, I'm not, and so then you know when you come and ask me, I want to say yes, and this system helps to make that possible.

Camille: 10:58

So one thing that's really helped with tips for a smooth summer routine is to set alarms and or theme days. Now, what I mean by this is setting alarms. Everyone has Alexa, and if you don't, you probably have a cell phone, and if you don't have that, then you probably have something else that you could use to create a routine within your home. So an example I want you to think of with this is for us, I think it's generally a good idea to get kids moving and done with their chores by noon. Now, that doesn't mean that that always happens, because maybe you have summer lessons or dance or different things that you have going on. But I find that if you set an alarm and everyone's kind of in it together, it gamifies it a little bit and your kids get a little more. I do this, too, where I think, ok, I have 15 minutes to clean up this room, let's figure out what, let's see what I can do. Another thing that can be really helpful is theming days to make tasks more fun and predictable. So for us, it could be that we go swimming on Wednesdays, and so everyone knows that that thing's coming and we want to make sure that we're done with our chores by noon.

Camille: 12:16

Another thing that I've also done in the past is that I've made, even if the kids get done with their chores at like 9am, because it's possible, I will say we don't turn on screens until three possible. I will say we don't turn on screens until three. Some years I've done one. Some days, some years I've done three. Because generally in the summer the morning hours are the hours you want to be out and enjoying the weather, and it's like that one to three o'clock hour where it gets really hot or they just need a time to chill and be indoors. So I've done this in the past where I've said, yeah, once you get your chores done or your to-do list or whatever that you then open up time for screen time after they've gone outdoors and read their books and whatever the things are you decide that need to be on this list and they can blow through that really quick and then want to spend the whole day playing video games and I'm like no, no, no, or watching TV or whatever. So that's why I had to set a time of day that we said screens cannot come on until one o'clock or three o'clock, depending on what's going on.

Camille: 13:23

Okay, so one of the things that I've always found really helpful is if I create zones within my home and assigned area for each child. For example, one might be responsible for the living room, another for the kitchen, toilets is a Saturday task for everyone, and then sometimes we will rotate those zones, but it's usually only once a month. I find that if you do it too often it gets confusing. Sometimes I've even kept a zone the same for the entire summer, just so that they know and that way you can determine that it's age appropriate for the person that has it. And as your kids get a little bit older, they really seem to be responsible for that space and keep their eyes on other people of what they're doing. However, the kitchen can be a heavier zone, so that's one that I'm typically more involved in, and the kid that's doing that zone may be doing unloading and loading the dishwasher and helping prep dinner or something like that, where that's hard to do the entire summer. So that's one that I will rotate, but other zones are pretty simple.

Camille: 14:36

One thing and I'll have this in the printable available there is a printable available in this in the show notes but one thing that I really love about creating zones is that you can make it really specific to your house and what makes the most sense where. For my seven-year-old he may not be the you know I say that and I'm thinking about that that he's probably one of the most motivated and proficient right now in my home with cleaning, um. So he's not a good example for that because I was going to say make it more simple, but he really is awesome. And that's a good example for that because I was going to say make it more simple, but he really is awesome. And that's a good point is to say that even kids with younger ages you may be surprised how capable, and even a lot of times more willing that they are to get things done. Anyway, that is for you to decide, but one thing to keep in mind is to have a reward system.

Camille: 15:27

Keeping things positive with rewards like extra screen time, friend time or one-on-one dates with you or your partner is a great way to keep things fun and exciting For us. The things that we sometimes are earning points or tokens or whatever towards is usually the fun stuff that we want to do anyway, which is like maybe go get an ice cream or plan for a camping trip or something like that. Now we talked about power 10 in a previous episode, so if you haven't heard that one, go check it out. But another power 10 that really works well with this zone idea is that every evening you set an alarm for 10 minutes and you send everyone to their zone to make sure that it's ready for the next day, and a fun way to put this is that you can kind of say it's like putting your house to bed, where everything gets tidied up so that the next morning it's not like you're walking into a bomb. You can start the day fresh. So for you, that means making sure that the dishwasher is running, the sink is empty, the counters are wiped down, and that's something that, with everyone pitching in, can get done in 10 minutes. I've included a free printable for you with the chore list and the summer bucket list below so that you can find it in the show notes. And remember you can join CEO in pre-registration right now.

Camille: 16:51

We're going to be kicking off in August, but right now you can pre-sign up to join other high achieving, like-minded women that want to master their goals in their lives and their business. And this is really exciting because I'm joining forces with my sister, janae Moss, who is getting her doctorate in brain performance psychology. So we are actually bringing together the skill sets of online business that I'm going to be talking about systems skill set, how to build on social media, online presence, confidence, building a website, launching a podcast, whatever the thing is that next big thing you want to do building a website, launching a podcast, whatever the thing is that next big thing you want to do but also linking that with the mindset of really being able to achieve those goals, and this is something that is going to be a program that we do month to month throughout the year and we help you achieve those goals with purpose. One thing that's also really exciting about this is we are holding in-person events in September and at the end of April, so it is an in-person and also virtual situation. You don't have to be in Utah, but if you are, that's an added bonus and I think you're going to love it. If you want to create more zones in your life that need cleaning up, just like you do in creating a zone for your home, I think you would really enjoy this.

Camille: 18:11

Go to sheoco or check out the links below to get more information, and thank you so much for tuning in. We would absolutely love to have you leave a comment review. Make sure you are subscribed so that you never miss an episode. I hope you have a great summer and we'll see you on Thursday. Hey CEOs, thank you so much for spending your time with me. If you found this episode inspiring or helpful, please let me know in a comment and a five-star review. You could have the chance of being a featured review on an upcoming episode. Continue the conversation on Instagram at callmeCEOPodcast, and remember you are the boss.