Creating a 'To Do' List for Kids

The labour day weekend feels like New Years Eve to me. After years of school, my mind is programmed to fall into a new routine when September rolls around. This year, I wanted to ensure our whole family got into a routine with a good balance between work and play and yet everyone was contributing to the household.

I knew that to be successful, the routine we established needed to incorporate three elements:

“To Do” List – My kids work best when they have a list in place. They seem less overwhelmed and chores are forgotten less frequently. Tasks are completed in a shorter amount of time and are well done.

Setting Deadlines – Setting deadlines and providing consistent times for kids to do their chores allows the kids to get chores completed in a shorter amount of time.

Rewards – In my experience, rewards work better than consequences. As my kids get older I find there are fewer toys I can take away and even fewer consequences I can actually follow through on.

So, with these things in minds, I created a “to-do” list in calendar format, detailing each of the tasks the kids need to complete each day. I set meals and bedtime as deadlines. I added tasks to the list that are not only the kid’s responsibilities but tasks that would help the household run more smoothly. I then committed to giving the kids a small allowance (incentive) for completing all the tasks on the list. I explained half of their allowance would go into their piggy bank and the other half could be spent on something for themselves. (Why not teach them about the value of money and how to save while we are at it!)

Two weeks into the school year, is it working? Yes! Of course, it took some time to develop and tweak a system that works for our family and to ease the kids into the new routine. Sure, there are moments when kids are kids and the system doesn’t work perfectly. Things are running more smoothly than ever before. The kids are even getting to bed on time! The kid’s seem motivated to complete their tasks and feel a sense of accomplishment. I love that they are contributing to the family. I really love that I have given the kid’s more responsibility and yet we seem to have more time to play and enjoy being a family.

To Do List for kids…