A mother of 16 children (yes, I typed that correctly) has designed a chore chart that ensures “order to the chaos” and help help fellow mothers out there who have trouble getting their children to complete tasks.
And if you don’t have kids, it is great for Maria Kondo types too as it is very minimalist and can be laminated
Mom and vlogger Jeni Bonnell came up with the very easy to use chart to make sure each of her 16 children will help with the massive task of keeping the home clean, organized and running.
The family hails from Queensland, Australia, Jeni living with her husband Ray and their children, Jesse, Brooke, Claire, Natalie, Karl, Samuel, Cameron, Sabrina, Tim, Brandon, Eve, Nate, Rachel, Eric, Damian, and Katelyn.
The children’s ages range between four and 28 and as soon as the couple’s kids turned eight years old, they are put to work helping out around the home.
The Bonnells say it has become such a big part of their family life that kids want to help out around the young age as the system makes them feel apart of the family.
Jeni shared how the youngest ones would get “upset” if their names were not on the roster — who thought it was both “cute” and “encouraging.”
On her YouTube channel, she explains her reasoning behind the regimented weekly job roster, saying:
“We have to keep some sort of order to the chaos that is our big family. Our job roster came about back when we had six or seven children. I was a stay-at-home mum and dad was working hard.
Even though the children were small I felt as though I wasn’t teaching them how to learn these skills and how to give back to the family.
If mums are doing all the jobs all the time, no one is having any fun. If you live here you work here…. after all when they move out into their own homes all the jobs are theirs.”
Jeni shared that when she first began the roster, it was just “scribbles on a bit of paper” and how it was “very time consuming” to organize when her children began to get part-time jobs and have extra-curricular activities.
She went on to share:
“The roster hangs on the wall. It’s so everyone can see what job they are on that night and learn different skills.”
While now it is much more organized, the family enjoys to sit down weekly with their schedules and plan out the following weeks.
Each child has laminated cards with jobs next to their names.
The rotation consists of seven chore-types, including: Prep and Set, Packing, Washing Up/Drying, Bench and Bin, Sweeping, vacuuming, and a chore Jeni calls “Mop and Slop.”
Jeni says that now, she can be a mom who is not completely “exhausted” by both the physical and emotional labor — saying she wants other moms to experience her success with the chart as well.
And if you are not a mom, maybe your fellow roommates will appreciate the chart as well.
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