I’m afraid over the years I have been too lenient with my oldest son when it comes to chores. He has a few regular ones that he does now but I was never strict about his room. He doesn’t have a lot of toys so I always figured if what toys he had were put away it as good enough.
Now at 8 years old he should be able to straighten his room on his own but he has a hard time remembering or he is just to lazy preoccupied thinking about much more important things than whether his clothes are in his hamper.
During this journey called parenting I have come to the conclusion that it is very important that you teach your children to take care of their personal space. Seriously, do their future roommates, wives or husbands a favor now and teach them how to pick up their own stuff. Your not always going to be there to do it for them.
Now, since I am trying to instill in him self cleanliness and all of that great stuff I need to help him remember these tasks without having to harp on him. I don’t believe it calls for a fancy chore chart either. The simpler the better.
I created these simple lists for his bedroom and bathroom. The point is for him to be able to look at the list and take a quick glance around to see what still needs to be done before he leaves the room. Eventually, in theory he will form the habit of doing these tasks and not need the lists anymore. We will see how that goes. :)
And, yes flushing the toilet made the list because at 8 years old he still cannot remember to do this. Same with closing his dresser drawers. They are always open! What’s up with that? (Please tell me your son is like this too?)
I designed these lists with a military theme because that is what my son is into. Feel free to download them if you can use them…
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My 9 year old son never seems to be able to remember to flush or close his dresser drawers as well. my 7 year old goes to the bathroom after the 9 year old and you can hear him yelling that he had to flush since his big brother didn’t. I like your checklist idea, much better than a chart.
I think it’s the age! My daughter is 7 and it’s not that she can’t – it’s that she is off in “la-la” land and “forgets”. My oddball reminders are “put on clean underwear” and “feed the fish”. Clean your room just doesn’t cut it. She hates lists, though, so I remind her one task after another. She knows what is expected but always has other things to do that are WAY more important, like read a Pokemon book. Luckily our house is tiny enough that I can sit and read the paper in the morning and calling out tasks like a drill sergeant. For many kids, a list is fabulous because it takes the burden off of you and puts the responsibility on them. Cute lists!
Yes “la-la” land describes it perfectly. :) We were reminding him one task after another until this school year. This year he has things he has to do when he gets to his classroom and it is all on a list. The teachers are teaching them to be more independent and take care of their belongings. Also the teacher might say “put away your work, clear your desk, and go stand in line.” He has a hard time remembering multiple tasks given to him. At school there are consequences for not listening or following through so this is my way of trying to help him with that. I can’t be his drill sergeant there!
And, for those of you that are really having problems with this the teacher mentioned that for some kids in the past she would actually make a little list on a post-it-note and stick it right on the child’s desk to help them until they could remember these little routines in the classroom.
I like these and will have to try these. I feel like I am constantly nagging at my 9 year old son to do these very things! Now I will just have to nag him for one thing – Did you check your list?? LOL And it’s not just your son, I’m convinced that my son will never remember to flush the toilet and wash his hands. You will often hear my 3 yr old daughter in the bathroom yelling “Eww, who did this pee? They did not flush it!”.
LOL, I know it never ceases to amaze me, I mean the handle to flush is right there! How can you forget that, every single time. :)
My 12 yo can’t seem to remember to shut his drawers either. We have lists for our kids.
I guess I need to be more thankful that my 4 year old boy flushes AND closes his drawers.
He has a hard time remembering to turn off lights though.
We have a chore checklist, that works well – but I’m thinking of re-vamping it a bit (since he’s not a reader yet) by making picutres of things ‘to do’ maybe on cards and laying them out or hanging them up in the morning and when he finishes one-by-one he can put them back in a basket or bin, OR I could make it all out of felt in a car theme and he could place different car chores on the ‘Finish Line’ when he’s done with them.
Oh, the ideas are a brewing! Thanks!
Oh I love the felt idea! I have seen a few but nothing that I would use. You could really have fun with the felt idea. My 4 year old has a room with a car theme, now you got me thinking!
I really like these! I’m using a chore chart with my little ones now, but this would be great when they are older. It is so important to begin teaching them responsibility when they are young!
Are you writing about my 8 year old?!?! Same thing here. Saying “clean your room” just doesn’t work. I have to tell her step by step. “Make your bed. Put your clothes in the hamper. Pick up stuff off the floor. Put it away.” I like your idea of having a checklist. She does like lists and it will sound a lot better than me nagging at her over and over…..
I work with grown up men who can’t seem to remember to flush the toilet
(we have “ladies” and “Men” restrooms, but because they are really just 1 person at a time, men are always using the closer ladies restroom instead of walking down the hallways to their own.)
These are great!!
I printed out the room one, but for some reason, I can’t get the bathroom one to work.
The link is fixed now! :)
Thank you!
My 8 year old does this too – it’s driving me nuts. This morning he actually tripped & fell due to something he hadn’t picked up.
Sounds like my boy! lol Things have improved greatly since I started using these lists. His room and bathroom have been picked up pretty consistently and if he starts to slack all I have to say is “did you check your list?” and he runs upstairs to fix the problem.
Not at all surprised by the toilet rule! My son will be 14 next month and still needs the reminder!! Hang in there, got a long haul ahead of you! Good thinking to start a list, at least he’s young enough you can hopefully get him going in the right direction! ;)
One other trick with the lists-if you put them in a clear sheet protector your kids can use a dry erase marker to check things off or add to the list. My 4dd loves it but now prefers to check things off BEFORE she does them….this way I can also change the list as needed (I draw pictures next to the words on her lists). But these things really do help until the habits are formed (even at 31!)