I have a DD 14 and DS 12 and both would spend ALL their non-school time watching TV/Playing games/Reading for pleasure, if I let them. So I devised a system whereby they have to "earn" recreation time by doing chores. I created a list of all the chores that need to be done on a daily/weekly/monthly/as needed basis. 15 minutes of chore time earns 1 hour of recreation time, but they get to CHOOSE the chores they do, and this has worked out very well for us. Here is how it works:
Each week I print off the chore list and pin it to the bulletin board. When the kids come home from school, they consult the list and work daily chores first. These are usually quick - make bed, pick up clothes from bedroom floor etc, pick up personal items from living areas etc. Most days their daily chores take less than 15 minutes, so they next move to the weekly section. This includes things like cleaning the bathroom sink, bathroom floor, kitchen floor, TV screens, windows, vacuuming and so on. I have them initial and date next to the weekly chore so that others in the family know that chore has already been done this week. The monthly chores include things like sweeping the front porch, cleaning out the car, straightening up the garage etc. And the "as needed" are things like laundry, emptying the dishwasher, cleaning out the cat litter box - you get the picture.
The system is actually designed to work for the whole family - (i.e., I also have to do chores to earn my BYC time
) and hours can be banked but must be used by midnight of the same day. In other words, a full hour of chores can be done at one time to earn 4 hours of relaxation time, but that time must be used same day, as I didn't want them banking so much time that they felt they didn't need to do anything around the house for a week at a time.
This system has only been in place for a few weeks so far but has been enormously successful. I used to have to nag and nag to get them to turn off the TV and do something that had been asked of them, but by giving them the freedom to choose what chores they want to do, they have been working far more enthusiastically and seem to get satisfaction out of "earning" the rest of the evening off. And its working for me because the house is cleaner and neater than it ever was before. For DS 12, it has been enlightening as chores appeared on the list that he had never noticed needed doing before. For example, he didn't know that I sweep cobwebs from the front porch on a somewhat regular basis, but found this to be a "fun" chore when he selected it from the list.
I was a little afraid at first that the less fun chores would be procrastinated and I would be stuck doing those, but it hasn't turned out that way due to dividing them into weekly/monthly categories. Once it has been marked off for the week/month, no one else is allowed to redo that chore, so they have to choose something less desirable, with the result it all gets done. And I feel so much more relaxed as I no longer have to nag them to get stuff done - its just done, and we're often working side by side chatting while we work instead of them grumbling about how hard done by they are.
