One of the things I miss most about our old house is how quickly it could be cleaned. Fewer bathrooms, no stairs, no carpet, smaller kitchen, fewer rooms. Just keeping windows clean in our new house could be a full time job. We had a family discussion one night to figure out how to better work together to keep our new house clean (and make me feel less like a maid). We set up some small daily chores for the kids (which we had done in the past but it was time to better enforce) and then brainstormed ideas for Saturday morning chores. In the past we had used a jar full of ping pong balls. Each ball had one small chore and we would each pull balls out every Saturday until they were all completed. This was starting to get old and we needed to rewrite the chores anyway. Amelia, always full of interesting and thorough ideas, suggested that it would be more fun if we pulled the chores from a giant cauldron. And we should call them spells instead of chores. And the spells should be written on fake bugs.
Done. We found a cauldron, got some giant bugs and lizards, and came up with a list of weekly chores/spells. We added in a few fun things (like 5 minute dance party, cast an animal spell on everyone, lead the group in stretches, pick your own chore, etc). This keeps things exciting.
The cauldron was a huge success. The girls showed up Saturday morning in their full Harry Potter garb and packed suitcases (they typically have to pack up something whenever we do anything).
The chores only take about an hour and we have changed and added a few things each week to keep things interesting. Unfortunately our inflatable cauldron has since lost its air. Perhaps we need to add "inflate cauldron" as a weekly chore. I mean spell.
