Kids' Daily Goals

My kids do "goals" every weekday (Saturdays are for family outings or projects and Sunday is a day of rest!).  It's our family's version of chores.  To me, chores seem to be more of a drudgery, something everyone loathes and cries about when they have to be done!  Where goals are something we aspire to get accomplished that make us feel good about ourselves after they are completed.  So the term "goals" is here to stay in our family!

To help my kids remember all their goals, I created this one-sheet "Daily Goals" list... 

You can download the list HERE.  I printed ours on white card stock and placed in a plastic sheet protector for durability.  It hangs on our magnetic board for easy viewing.

Here's a breakdown of the pictures:

First column (morning goals):

eat breakfast

get dressed

brush hair and teeth

prayers

make bed

computer reward

Second column  (after school goals):

eat snack or lunch

unload backpack

homework (which always includes 20 minutes of reading)

cleaning job*

piano practicing

electronic reward

Third column (night goals):

eat dinner

bath and pj's

brush teeth and hair

prayers

read books reward

I like to introduce goals when I have a child starting pre-school (and that's why there are only pictures and no words).  Any earlier and it's just unnecessary work for me!  This one-page goal chart serves my 3, 5 and 7 year olds.  The 3-year old must do the yellow boxes.  The 5-year old must complete the yellow and green, and the 7-year olds (I have twins!) must complete the yellow, green and blue boxes.  I guess as they grow, I'll continue to add more but this is what works  for my ages right now.

The red boxes are the reward for completing each column which are divided by morning, afternoon and nightly rewards.  Once morning goals are completed, the kids can do, what I call "educational media" on the computer if they have time before school.  My twins love a program introduced to them at school called REFLEX math.  My 5-year old loves PDSKids.org and my 3-year old loves starfall.com.  When after school goals are completed, everyone is entitled to some down-time (I think it's important to be able to rest after a long day of working).  This is when they can turn on a movie, play the Wii, or any other electronic device until dinner.  Then after dinner and night time goals are completed, we all wind down for bed with books.  My husband and I split up and read chapter books to the older kids and picture books to the younger ones.

During the school year, if my kids complete their morning goals and still have time before they must leave for school, they can get on the computer (I'll be honest, this is rare - but it does occasionally happen!).  However, this changes a bit in the summer.  When there is no school, the morning and after school goals are to be completed before any playing with friends, screen time, or swimming is allowed (we swim A LOT in our family during the summer!).

During the summer, I also allow the kids 3 free days (this does not include weekends, family vacations or sick days - I'm not a total task master!!) where they can choose to not do their goals for any 3 week days throughout the summer.  HOWEVER.  If they use more than 3 free days, they don't get to go to our local amusement park which we as a family go to the last week of summer.  It's a highly anticipated event in our family and no member wants to miss it!

So, if you are looking for a simple organizational system for your kids, I'd highly recommend a chart like this one!  If you have different "goals" for your family, I'd highly recommend purchasing this chore clip art from Susan Fitch's Etsy shop HERE.  She has some great work!!  She also has a few free ones on her website HERE.

*I rotate a simple cleaning job for each of my kids.  It coincides with my cleaning job I have assigned for myself HERE on any given day.  My 5-year old on Mondays cleans a mirror, Tuesday cleans the inside of the toilet, Wednesday wipes something (walls, light switches, food containers, etc.), Thursday dusts and Friday vacuums something simple - ususally the stairs where I help).  As the children grow, I give them a little harder task in the same areas each day.