Chore Charts?

     Like most parents, I enjoy (even relish) the peace and quiet that I get when my kids go camping for a week with their grandparents. By the end of that week, I am ready for them to come home. I do miss my kids when they are away and sometimes the silence can be deafening...Then I realize after they have been home for a few hours that maybe it wasn't so deafening after all?! Ha ha, oh well, I think the week was good for us all, but I am glad they are home safe and sound.

     While my children were gone, I did some thinking...Yes, I realize that can be dangerous. I decided that my kids needed to do a much better job at completing their chores than they have been, especially since we are getting ready to shell out a lot of money for their cheerleading and school clothes. How could I accomplish this? I decided that I would put together a weekly chore chart that would need to be completed daily. I also drew up a contract between them and us (Corey and myself). So that is what I did. I created a separate chore chart for each of them, since they have a couple of chores that are not the same. For example, Autumn is responsible for cleaning the kitchen, her room, the rec room (was formerly called Play Room), putting laundry away, and homework (during the school year). Tehya is responsible for her hermit crab tank (that is once a week), litter boxes, her room, Rec Room, putting her laundry away and homework. It may appear that the youngest one has more jobs, but the kitchen is actually much more detailed than the rest of the jobs, plus the hermit crabs are hers, so she is responsible for them (and it's once a week!). Each job has a block for each day of the week. Once the job is completed, either me or Corey will check to see if it is completed correctly and if it is, we will sign off. If not, they will have to redo the chore. What the contract does is explain the chores in great detail so that they can't come back and say "I didn't know I was supposed to do that" or something along those lines. It also explains that if things aren't completed or something wasn't corrected that they would lose privileges. This could be anything from me throwing things away, grounding them, or not being allowed to participate in cheer. I read it to them and made sure they understood what was going to happen as a result.

     I am giving them the benefit of the doubt this week because they were tired, so I knew their bedrooms and Rec Room wouldn't get cleaned to my liking yesterday. I told them they had until I woke up Saturday morning to get them completed, all I am asking for is that they work on it each day so that I can tell they did and to do their other jobs. They did fine yesterday, so we will see how this works out.

    So now I am asking for advice from other parents that have tried the "chore chart" idea. Did it work for you and your family? Do you have any recommendations or suggestions that I could use? If it didn't work out for you, then what did you do instead? I am open to any and all suggestions.
Thanks!