Stewardship
Chores. Housework. Schedules.
Do those words cause you to smile? Do they cause hesitation or stressful feelings?
We are called to be good stewards of all the Lord has given us. I Corinthians 4:1-2 says, “Let a man so account of us, as the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” I want that to be said of me! That I am a good steward and faithful of all the Lord has given me. Part of our Family Philosophy is training our children to be excellent in all they do, for God’s glory. Sometimes that seems daunting because our kids are still young, but that character is built in the day-to-day tasks, too.
Regardless of our perspective on this topic of chores, we can still be good stewards of it.
Some people love discussing and thinking through these things and how to best implement them in their homes. One way or another, housework needs to be done. I would dare say that most parents give their children some form of responsibility in the upkeep of their homes. Maybe it’s cleaning their own rooms, emptying the trash, or folding laundry.
Personally, I enjoy scheduling and planning! It makes me happy to have a good routine. Our schedules are full with family, ministry (church and a Christian school), homeschooling, secretarial work, and running a business from home. If I have a plan, then I feel like we can keep our priorities in order and get things done in an orderly fashion.
Now, I have gone through a variety of seasons with our family: me doing all the chores, kids helping randomly, no chore chart at all, a chore chart on the fridge, a wooden chore chart on the wall, daily chores, weekly chores… you get the idea.
When our kids were younger (around ages 2-8), the Accountable Kids Chore Chart worked very well, especially when they were home all the time or homeschooling. This is a system with morning, afternoon, and evening chores. Once the child finishes each section of chores, he/she earns a “ticket time” which is any fun activity you as the parent choose. Once my kids got to school age and were attending a school instead of homeschooling, our season changed, and this didn’t work quite as well for us, for various reasons.
In THIS season of our lives, however, ZONE CHORES are working really well for our family. And that is what I’d like to share with you today.
I decided to revamp our schedule in March of 2020 when the majority of us parents found ourselves homeschooling. I wanted a way to have our home run well in such a strange time of transition and needed a little extra help from my kids. I discussed this with my husband, and together we came up with a list of what could be adjusted and how the kids could help. We thought this would be a good time of teaching and training on how to clean, as well as use up some of the extra time we found on those long days. Because we all know that on some days, when everyone is at home, it can be a constant pick-up game (or so it seems)!
My children are ages 5, 7, 10, and 13, so this has worked well for us.
Now, if you still have littles...hang in there Momma. Your day is coming when your kids can help around the house more. ;) So read this and tuck it away for future use if it doesn’t quite apply to you yet.
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Here’s how Zone Chores work in our home:
The house is split into 4 “Zones” (Four zones because I have four children, so adjust this according to your family.), for example: Kitchen, Bathroom, Living Room, Playroom.
Each child has one of the Zones for the entire week. We rotate the zones each week, which teaches each child how to clean and care for each section of the house. I have made a schedule of chores for each zone for Monday - Saturday. The chores for each day do not take very long - maybe 5-10 minutes - but it helps in making sure that a particular zone is cleaned well each week.
For the bathroom, Monday is cleaning the toilet, inside & outside; Tuesday is cleaning the sink, counter & mirror; Wednesday is cleaning the outside of cabinets & door handles; Thursday is empty the trash & sweep the floor; Friday is changing out the towels. Saturday is a deeper cleaning item like organizing the cabinets.
My children had to adjust to this new system. I took time the first two weeks to show them how I expected the chores to be done. My girls (13 and 10) love having the checklist and not much to do each day. My boys (7 and 5) have to be reminded and tend to rush through it and not do their best. I must be intentional to going behind them and making sure they’re doing their best. (Again, that good steward principle applies here.)
Spring and Summer of 2020, we were all in a good routine of doing our Zone Chores daily and well. However, since school resumed in the Fall, it has been a little bit of a challenge to be consistent. All chores are part of our afternoon routine when they come home from school:
• Put your personal items/lunchbox away
• Do homework
• Do Zone Chores
• Play with the dog
• Memorize your Kings Kids Verse
The kids are not allowed to use any electronics or get toys out until these things are done.
Then they can play for a small amount of time before we start on our evening schedule, which includes dinner, family devotions, baths, sometimes a game, reading as a family, or watching a short TV show, and bedtime.
I also have my own chores throughout the week, in addition to overseeing that the kids’ zone chores are done correctly. I do one load of laundry each day, except Sunday and Wednesday, because those are church days, clean my own bathroom and bedroom, etc.
So that’s how we have implemented Zone Chores in our home.
Please know that this is a tool for us to use so our home runs smoothly and functions well. Of course, we are normal people, and some days it just doesn’t happen! But this is the goal - the standard - that we have set for our family. So on those days that it does happen, I am one happy momma. ;)
Whatever you do for your home, may I encourage you to train your children to do all things in an excellent way and to be good stewards of all the good things God has given us.
