How to Create and Implement a Summer Job Binder for your KIDS!
I wonder how to teach my kids responsibility delayed gratification, & good habits?
Why should I have a summer job binder for my kids? I’ll give you three good reasons why.
- Responsibility
- Delayed gratification
- Creating good habits
First of all, teaching your kids to take responsibility for their home and feel responsible to help their family is a good thing. It’s important for kids to be responsible for tasks they may not want to do. This is a critical skill they will need in school and in life. Can you hear it, “But I don’t WANT TO.” Guess what kids, too bad. We all have responsibilities and have to do things we don’t want to do.
Secondly, kids need to learn about delayed gratification. “I want it and I want it now” is not the reality of school or life. They need to know how to work for something and how to wait for what they want.
Third, it’s important to create strong habits that can build a good work ethic at an early age. If kids have to be responsible now and learn to have a strong work ethic then we all win. In my blog post on habit formation, I review James Clears’ habit loop. This loop outlines how habits work. For example, right now my kids are craving money. I want the response to be working for money and the reward will be that they can spend the money on what they choose.
Why are responsibility, delayed gratification, & habit formation important?
As an elementary school principal, I see it at school all the time. Kids struggle to complete a task or follow directions. Then they act up in class and eventually get sent to the office. They will look me right in the eye and tell me they acted out because they didn’t want to do what their teacher asked them to do. They will actually tell me that acting out at home would get them out of doing what they don’t want to do and that they can usually get what they want by throwing a fit.
In an age of instant gratification and devices, we are losing the skill of work ethic and prolonged gratification. When kids want something…they want it now! As an educator, I beg you to help teach your kids that they don’t get everything they want when they want it and to teach them how to be responsible for tasks that they don’t want to do. Teach them good habits now.
After seeing this trend increase last year, I knew I wanted to create scenarios where my kids practice being responsible for tasks they don’t want to do. I wanted them to go back to school used to a routine. Work ethic became a priority. I fear that kids have so much immediate gratification now that they don’t know how to stick with a task for a long amount of time. So how do I teach these skills?
The Job Binder
I implemented the use of the job binders in my house last summer and it was magnificent. The kids had jobs they had to do each day including cleaning, reading, and journaling.
They learned to be responsible for things that they didn’t want to do. We brainstormed ideas about how to motivate yourself and make it more fun if you don’t want to do it. They also knew that they couldn’t go do anything with any friends until they did their jobs. They were responsible for their jobs first and then they could play later. As a result, the house was clean each morning and they didn’t ask me for anything until their jobs were done!
How to Set Up and Implement the Job Binder
Determine your goals for the kids.
First, determine what areas you want your kids to help you clean. Is it their bedrooms, the family room, or laundry room? Are you looking for the kids to pick up after themselves or help you deep clean? Think of what you need help with and what habits you want them to develop. What I found with my first try with this was that when my kids had to clean the mudroom twice a week then they ended up keeping it picked up because they knew it would take less time to clean it later. New habits were already starting to form!
Get the materials & decide on a format together.
The materials I used were:
- three ring binder – I use a one-inch binder
- sheet protectors
- dry erase markers
- paper
- printer paper (or colored paper)
Next, go and get the materials. Involve the kids in this process. When you involve them then it gives them ownership in the process. I had my kids pick out the binder that they wanted and the color of expo markers they wanted.
Now that you know what areas of the house you want help in and you have purchased your supplies then you need to determine how they are going to keep notes or create a checklist for each area. Again, you want them involved. The more they are a part of making the job binder the more they understand and have ownership. My kids were just learning GoogleSlides and wanted to use it to make a checklist and then print it off. This allowed them to pick their background, font, and add pictures if they wanted. For younger kids, you could make a checklist together or you can draw or print off pictures explaining what to do.
Model what you expect
Next, you take the kids on a tour of each area you want them to clean. On the tour, you share your expectations for how to clean it and model how to clean it. I brought the kids into each room and literally said, “Kids, this is the family room. Notice there are shelves, tables, and a couch! All of these items need to be cleaned. Here is how you do it.” Then I modeled my expectations, had them practice, and gave them feedback. Warning – you need to have patience. Let them ask questions, practice doing it, and take notes so they truly understand what you are asking them.
After the cleaning jobs are outlined, consider other “must-dos” for your kids. Let’s remember, I am a principal and life long learner so my kids get to learn over the summer. Each child has a set time of reading, math activities, and journaling. Below are two pages out of one of the journals.
After we had all the areas defined, we knew it was too much for one day and not necessary to clean each area every day. We sat together and created the chart below to break up the jobs for each day.
Personalize the binder
When we had all the pieces complete the kids started to personalizing their binders. Addie chose a flamingo cover and Joey chose a space theme.
“What do we get for doing this?”
We get paid for working, right? As adults, we work for money so I am completely comfortable with giving my kids an allowance. We negotiate it together. We talk about the amount of time working and set a price to teach about the value of money. This year we will add in a lesson on savings. They will divide their allowance into thirds. One third will be theirs to spend, one third to save, and one third for a charity of their choice.
What does it look like for the kids?
The kids grab their binder in the morning. They go to the page that outlines what they will do for that day and get busy. After they complete a task they cross it off with the expo marker. We have a central location for all the cleaning supplies they would need and they don’t need my help for any of it! My kids were 8 and 11 when I implemented this so if your kids are younger the list may be shorter and they may need your help. I wish I would have started it younger just to get them into the habit.
In the end, the kids learn about having daily responsibilities for tasks they may not prefer, they have clear expectations on how to carry out the jobs, and the house stayed cleaner than ever!!
The purpose of the 52 Weeks of Wonder is to try something new each week that I have always wondered about. I implemented this last year but didn’t have as much consistency as I would have liked. So now I wonder if this method carried out with consistency will help build better habits for my kids.
If you have more questions about how I implemented this and how it worked you can email me directly at marnie@marniepauly.com. I would also love to hear how you teach your kids responsibility and work ethic!
