Keeping mom sane & kids responsible

I just picked a name…really it should be “mom can’t keep track of who did what and needs more organization in her life”. That name is too long. And the pins aren’t all “chores”, so we are going with “responsibility pins” for the sake of naming this project.

My kids all have things they are responsible for each day, but rarely does everyone do what they are supposed to simply because I haven’t done a good job making it easy for them to remember and be responsible. My friend Emily posted a clothespin chart about two years ago. Then when I was visiting my friend Angie, she had done a similar one. Well, now I am taking ideas from those two girls and made my own version.

1. I started with scrap wood from the garage. I cut it down to the longest size possible to fit on a cabinet in my kitchen….to fit as many clothespins as possible!

2. I lightly sanded the board, painted it with chalkboard spray paint, lightly sanded again, and added a final coat of paint.

3. I dipped the ends of the pins in 5 different colors of paint. 5 pins for each kid. The paints are Behr samples from Home Depot. In MacGyver fashion, I clipped them on rulers and paint sticks and taped those to glue bottles to dry.

4. I had my sister write various responsibilities on the pins because her handwriting is much prettier than mine. The kids all have the same things written on their painted pins (room, laundry, exercise, read). The things that rotate between the kids each day (fix dinner, set table, clean dinner, lunch helper, chickens, Poppy, etc.) are on the plain clothes pins.

5. My board was too thin to nail or staple anything on the back, so I hot glued pom pom trim to the back. I added some thick decorative tape (from Raising Up Rubies) just to make it pretty.

The pins start on the bottom of the board each day and then the kids move them to the top as they complete the task. My kids love this! I actually had planned on starting it next week, but as soon as I hung it up the kids were eager to start. It is SO NICE not to ask them if they’ve put up their laundry or cleaned their room. It is also much more peaceful at dinner time not to hear arguing over who gets to help me fix dinner. Everyone knows what their tasks are that day and they take care of getting them done. And life in the Campbell house is a little less crazy…just a little.