In the spirit of telling the "rest of the story", I have changed my tune about chores…yet again. I still think the HAnnDi Work System is very useful and comprehensive however I would imagine that it would work really well for children that already know their jobs. I was having 4 children simultaneously cleaning and not correctly and I felt torn as to who to help first while others waited…you can imagine the scene I’m sure.
I had an epiphany one day when my oldest daughter came to show me with face beaming and chest puffed out that she had just folded the perfect towel. She was so pleased with herself and was sure that she could pass that chore off on her adult skills list that finally the light bulb went off. Children need practice! And lots of it…
So I temporarily set that system aside and changed to zones. I divided the house into zones and let the children choose what rooms they wanted to be responsible for. They will have their zones for at least 6 months. They all know how to tidy a space so that buys me a little time to teach whoever needs a little extra attention. Also I’m kicking around the idea of having a cleaning class once a week where everyone learns how to wipe off a counter or sweep the floor for example.
We’ve been doing zones for about 2 months. Here are some issues we’ve had to iron out. All children need to respect others’ zones by cleaning up their own messes. Toddlers are not respectful ; ) and everyone needs to pick up after them. Return and report is key to teaching proper technique. On the days I don’t pay attention to their work, I’m always disappointed.
I had a payday last week when I heard my son teaching a friend how to wipe off the table in sections and then dry it so they could go play. I’ll have a clean house yet!
We've been doing zones at our house for about 6 months now...it seems to work well for us right now. I agree...everyone has to help pick up after toddlers, that's hard for some of my children to remember to be happy about doing!
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