Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Teaching the Kids to Work - Part 2 - How?

I read this quote this morning and I love it!
The observance of four simple things on the part of parents would in a generations or two turn our societies around in terms of their moral values.
They are simply these: Let parents and children (1)teach and learn goodness together, (2) work together, (3) read good books together, and (4) pray together
-Gordon B. Hinckley


So how do we learn to work together? I don't claim to have this down, so I would appreciate any comments on my posts with suggestions, but I do think I've learned a few things through trial and error as I've tried different ways to get the kids to work. (By the way, I think the experimenting in itself has been great - maybe some of the charts and reward systems I've tried have only served to motivate for a few weeks, but the kids learned to work in the process and that was what I was trying to accomplish in the first place! It seems to me that even when I repeatedly fail in my attempts, as long as I keep trying - the failures come less often and I see improvements over time. The trick is to not get discouraged and quit trying).


I suppose every family has to experiment with systems that work well for them, but I'll share in upcoming posts what has worked well for us and then I'll link them to this post. Here's what I plan to write about:
(If it's linked - then I've written a post on it, if it's not - then I'm still planning on getting to it.)

Why work?
Inspiring Work
**When a Child isn't Working during Family Work
**Following Directions
Meal Times
Laundry
Daily Jobs (we now have new list and new stewardships  here)
Weekly Jobs (on our new schedule we now do these during family work time)
Project Time  (we also now do this during family work time)
Our New Schedule)
Involving the Little Ones
Consistency
Kid of the Day and Making Time for Each Child
Reward Systems
The Ladder  (A reward system) and a nice addition from a friend's post.
**Consequences
The Cure for the Lazy Bug
Work and Respect

** I've learned a few things since writing these posts that have changed how I do this.  Here are my new thoughts on this:
Letting My Kids Make Mistakes
Consequence Ideas
To Spank or Not to Spank...
Motivating Children with Money? (The Right Motivators)
Without The Slightest Bit of Frustration

Our latest system:
Family Work
Principles I've Learned about Work and How it Looks at Our House (including our current schedule)

Also, we've incorporated these things into our schedule very gradually. We are able to do them all now (for the most part), but we had to start by focusing on doing one thing well at a time. If we were to try to do all of these things at once - there would have been some major resistance. Some people may have the mental strength and fortitude to persist with it anyway. I don't - so we had to get to where we are (and where we eventually want to be) slowly but steadily.

Please share anything that has worked well for you - and feel free to ask questions if something doesn't make sense.  I appreciate comments!

1 comment:

  1. Karen - your blog and insights are amazing - I'm trying to take it all in... I've started homeschooling my 10 year old, and am excited to do the other kids too, but Corey wants to see results, I'm trying to get there, I think alot of your ideas will help me!

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