You know when you reach that point in the day when you cannot, you simply CANNOT ask your children one more time to complete the simplest of tasks? And, if in fact, you have to ask them again, you will simply lose your mind, break open the peanut butter jar, and dive in head first? Oh you too? Glad to see this isn’t just happening around this joint.

Morning are getting pretty painful around here. No one will brush their teeth unless I ask them 746 times, and the idea of putting on socks and shoes is as if I have asked them to climb Mt. Everest. When I would see those adorable homemade chore charts or the charts you can buy, I sometimes think those are the answer; however, I can’t remember to keep up the advent calendar (and ours has chocolate). How am I supposed to maintain a chore chart? Really, I don’t need one more task.

So when Chore Monster introduced me to their website and apps that makes chores fun, easy to track, and the kids can pick their own rewards, I knew we could do this!

Setup was super easy (read: if it’s easy for me, you can do it too), and my little guy liked picking the rewards

Chore: Brush your teeth twice a day  Reward: You won’t have stinky Brontosaurus breath

Chore: Make your bed every morning Reward: Mommy will read an extra book to you and night

Chore: Get your socks and shoes on before school Reward: At the end of the week a trip to get frozen yogurt

These may seem like baby steps, y’all, but just having him accomplish these simple tasks without me having to ask a million times makes our mornings run so much more smoothly. I sorta love Chore Monster, and I’m totally writing their name with doodle hearts around it. Like this:

Because my main man even gets to pick his own rewards, we are even talking about the difference between things we have to do and the things that help us earn the big rewards. So if we make it a few days successfully completing our chores, he gets a trip to our favorite frozen yogurt place where he can add his own toppings–so basically a ton of gummy worms and chocolate chips.

So let’s review–he’s got minty fresh breath, shoes on is feet, and his bed looks like it came right out of Pottery Barn (if Pottery barn let preschoolers make their beds) and we all get frozen yogurt. Me likey!

Because we have the app on my phone, he was super excited to mark each chore as “complete” and he even wanted to add more chores! I started to think the possibilities were endless–make dinner for Mommy or paint the bathroom I’ve been asking your dad to do for months. Alright, we’ll be more realistic: clear your dishes after meals and feed the dog.

This kid loved his new responsibilities, loved marking each task complete, loved his rewards, and loved that Mommy wasn’t  screaming “WILL SOMEONE PLEASE BRUSH THEIR TEETH IN THIS HOUSE!”

The chores you pick and the rewards are totally up to you. So you make them age specific as well as change them when needed. Plus you can vary them like I did–a pat on the back for the basics and the big guns for the chores you really need to work on.

Want to try out ChoreMonster? Perfect, because the first 100 readers that click this link and sign up can start their own account for thirty days for free!

 

This post is part of  a  paid opportunity to partner with ChoreMonster.