Chores! Who likes them? Nearly every household in the world without servants or hired help will tell you that household chores is the hardest part of the family dynamic. Work schedules, school commitments, extracurricular activities, religious participation, and other activities will cause scheduling conflicts in any household. Dividing up the chores will need to be equal in terms of abilities and family roles.
Here are a few tips with the help of https://supercleaningservicelouisville.com for divvying up the chores without preferential treatment to anyone.
Rotate the Schedule
Rotating schedules ensure that each person gets to do all of the chores.
While this may not be the best if you don’t like some of the chores, it ensures that if everyone in the family will be able to avoid the chores that multiple people dislike. If no one likes doing the dishes, it does not become a burden for one person repeatedly. There are many ways to rotate the schedule, and no matter which way you divide the tasks, you will want to consider balance.
You should try to work your way through a cleaning checklist if possible.
Daily
If you have several capable members of the family, you may rotate the schedule daily.
For instance, on Monday, Mom does the dishes, sweeps, and mops the kitchen, and sets and clears the dinner table; Dad cooks and does laundry; Son takes out the trash, and vacuums, sweeps, or mops the common rooms; Daughter cleans the bathrooms, checks and distributes mail, and tidies the common rooms.
Each day should be disbursed based on the time and energy it takes to do each job. On Tuesday, Mom and Dad swap and Daughter and Son switch. Wednesday Mom and Daughter, and Son and Father switch. Thursday, Mom and Dad and Son and Daughter swap again.
This should ensure that each person has done each job at this point in the week. Repeat the process. Setting up the schedule and laminating it will be helpful. You can set up a 28-day cycle so that you each have the same number of turns at each task by the end.
Weekly or Monthly
You can use similar techniques to rotate the schedule for weekly or monthly rotations. Be sure that no matter how you do this, each person gets a turn.
Draw for It
Daily drawings for chores may be another option, but it could get frustrating if someone seems to continually choose their least favorite chore. However, this distribution method means that each family member can only blame themselves.
Trade
Make a list of all activities that must be done.
As a family, estimate the time it takes to do each of these tasks. Each person must rank the chores in order of preference. However, each “time” must be considered. For instance, if you have four tasks that take 30-45 minutes, you must rank those 1-4. Then, rank the 15–20-minute tasks.
Continue this until each family member has a relatively even distribution of cleaning tasks. You can trade-off, but the time and effort must remain even so that each family member has the same amount of responsibility.
Everyone Does a Portion of Each Task
Rather than assigning each task to an individual, everyone completes each task. Everyone pitches in with dinner preparation and cleanup, tidying rooms, and cleaning the floors. No one person gets to skip any task that they are capable of doing.
Revisit the Plans
Any of these ideas may work at any time, but they will often fall apart due to changing schedules and family needs.
If one child begins a sport, their chores may be missed on game day, but the person who takes up their slack gets to miss another day.
Whatever you do, continually look back at what is working and what is not. These plans are set in paper, not chiseled in stone. They can be changed whenever it works for your family.
Consider Age and Gender Appropriateness
Some chores are impossible for three-year-olds to do.
You cannot expect them to cook a meal independently. You should also avoid “gender-specific roles” for parents and children. Yes, the example of distributed chores above shows the son taking the trash out on Monday, but the daughter and mother are required to do this chore as well.
Fathers are also considered contributing members of the household.
Do not adhere to old-fashioned standards that are unrealistic today. Mothers’ schedules are no less important than anyone else’s. Likewise, if your daughter does not live with a man when she moves out, she needs to be capable of doing “boy chores” as much as your son will need to know how to cook and clean.
Final Thoughts
There are no right ways to schedule or wrong ways.
Each household member has something valuable to contribute. You do not have to distribute the chores so that they rotate, but unless everyone can agree, people need a break from chores they hate. All household members are valuable, and their preferences should be considered. Find a plan that meets everyone’s needs.
