Family Goals for 2013: A Better Job Chart and Warm Fuzzies

This year I wanted to incorporate a few ideas into our family that will hopefully be helpful to both kids and parents.  I am big on traditions or things that are repetitive for my kids (like things they can count on happening daily or weekly).  I wanted to improve our job chart (to make it something that was user friendly for my kids and made them more accountable) and I wanted to create a new daily tradition for our family for the dinner table that encouraged positive actions and words.  Here is what I did.

#1. The Job Chart

I found this chart at Walmart in their back to school clearance for .98 cents.  I modified it a bit by dividing the chores section into two columns (one for the to do's and one for the jobs done).   

I did a search online for job chart ideas and let me tell you there are plenty of them out there.  I needed something that was visual since my kids can't yet read.  I also needed something that I could make rather quickly.  I didn't want the process of making the job chart to be a waste of my time.  There were some really cute ideas online but I kept telling myself, "I want this to be user friendly and don't want to worry about my kids wrecking it in the process of using it."  I found this fantastic set of job pictures here at Confessions of a Homeschooler.  I printed off two sets but had them print so that I was getting 2 pages on one (because I wanted small pictures to put on my glass rocks) and I also printed out the blank cards so I could draw some of my own job ideas.

 I cut out the pictures that I wanted from the job chart cards.  I picked jobs that would be my kids everyday jobs plus a bunch of others so that they could choose two extra jobs each week.  I used a glue stick, rubbed it on the picture side, stuck it to the flat side of the glass rock and added a magnet with some superglue.

 So the idea is that they have 5 jobs which are their everyday jobs (make bed, brush teeth, get dressed, pick up toys, and preschool).  Then they each choose 2 extra jobs for the week (fold laundry, put away groceries, clean the art center, clean dollhouse area, clean bathrooms, help mom cook etc.)  Each day when they accomplish a job they move their marker to the done side.  I want to make them more accountable with their job chart so that I can say things like, "no you can't have that until I see that you have 3 jobs done."  I think the visual reminder will be really helpful to them.  I also included jobs for mom and dad because in our house everyone does jobs and some family members (dad in particular) need a little reminder of what his or her jobs are as well.  Each week at Family Home Evening the kids will choose new "extra" jobs and we will assign mom and dad new jobs.

 Idea #2: Warm Fuzzies Jar

I came up with this idea to encourage everyone in our family to focus more on the kind and positive things in our family.  Every parent knows how easy it is to tell your kids to "stop", "don't", "quit it" and to find all kinds of things that are annoying, bossy, rude or unkind.  But it harder to recognize and acknowledge all the good things (well at least it is for me-I want to but I don't always do it).  The warm fuzzy jar sits in the center of our table.  Each night at family dinner we take turns sharing kind things that we saw happen in our family during the day.  Each family member can technically share as many kind things as they want to but at some point there may have to be some monitoring if the ideas are just being shared so that someone can hear themselves talk or put a cool pom pom in a jar.  When the jar is filled we will go and do a fun family outing like go swimming, go to a movie, go out for dinner and ice cream or go to a kid museum then we will empty the jar and start again.  I am hoping that what ultimately happens in our home is that everyone works a bit harder to be kinder and to notice the kind deeds we do for each other. 

Love Dove Stuff

Not like I am some expert by any means on relationships or marriage counseling or anything like that but I definitely feel strongly that it is super important to keep the spark alive between husbands and wives. I have seen how crazy life can get with children and work and activities and it is so easy to just put your relationship with your spouse on the back burner. I mean heck you see each other everyday and you sleep in the same bed at night, you talk about schedules and lunch menus what more do you need.
Well I recently read about this idea in a book and thought it sounded like something that would be great to do with my husband. We are good at trying to keep little traditions between the two of us and so I thought this year it would be great to add another one.
You start by making a his and her's jar. I made mine out of formula cans (those cans-so handy for so many crafts-which they should be after you pay so darn much to purchase them). I just covered them with some scrapbook paper.

Inside you cut 52 strips of paper (1 for each week of the year) and yes I know it is February. We still decided to do 52 (we just filled ours out last night). You keep your can and give the "HIS" one to your husband. On each strip of paper you write something that you want to have the other person do for you or with you (rub your back, go for a walk, take you on a date, buy you flowers, dance in the kitchen etc etc). He does the same on his. We wrote the word BONUS on 5 strips of paper to account for the weeks we missed with Jan. Then you will swap jars. Then once a week you will each pull a strip of paper out of each others jar and will have to do whatever your spouse asked for. If it says BONUS then you will pull out another strip.
Here are the rules we set up:
-We will pull out strips on Sunday.
-We will have the whole week to accomplish the request
-You have the option to put it back and pull out another one if the paper says something you know you can't do that week (maybe it is seasonal, or you just know it will not happen. We want to be successful at this not make promises we can't keep).
-We will put the papers on our mirror in our bedroom where we can see them all week to remind us
I am looking forward to the year and fun little extra moments with my husband that we might not make time for otherwise.