How to Help Children Be Responsible

Trying to get kids to do their chores without a lot of nagging?

Are your children being sassy?

Here is what what we do

It was a battle to get my daughter to do most things like wear appropriate clothes for the weather, go to school, pick up her toys when she was done playing with them, and the list goes on...

I felt like I was nagging constantly. It was wearing me down. I felt like I was losing my sanity.

Then one particularly trying day I realized I needed to make a chart for my daughter like I used in my classroom. Taking the same concepts, but for at home and focused on at home activities.

So we came up with this responsibility chart where she has to earn paper stars for completing responsibilities in the left column that we put in a jar and she spends them in the Star Store in the right column.

We also have a Helpful Choices Chart for opportunities to earn more stars also attached. 

This chart concept saved my sanity. We still use this same chart concept, newest version on the fridge, 11 years later.

And since it helped so much, I started my son on his chart at 3 years old with pictures instead of words.

We found that this system helped her and us so much! If you'd like to try it, adjust/tweak it to fit your kids' needs/wants. I would suggest using different color stars for each of your kids with their own jars for collecting stars.

Get the Responsibility Chart here

Kids Being Kind to Self and Others

Around the same time, but a while later my daughter was having difficulty with manners and being kind.

Like waving goodbye or hello. And using kind words to speak - learning the art of speaking kindly to others and herself.

Another chart was created but with a kindness to others and to herself.

We use kindness hearts with our Kindness Chart, now that they work on earning as well when they each show good manners and kindness towards themselves and others. So we have stars for responsibility and hearts for kindness and they have made all the difference in our lives.