Customer Reviews

The Chore Board: A Helping-Around-the-House Game

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have to rate this product 5 stars because of the immediate results I've seen in my home. As soon as I showed it to my 10 1/2 year old daughter Amanda, she immediately began unpacking the pieces and looking at the instructions.

"What are some chores I can do, Mom?" she asked. I reminded her about the chores that are on her regular list: cleaning her bathroom each week, unloading the dishwasher as needed, keeping her room straight.

She didn't look excited, but reluctantly added them to white board list that was part of the game board. "Are there others I can do?" I added on some things that I'm always asking her to do, such as put her clothes away (instead of leaving them on the chair in her room where I pile them) and take out the garbage.

"What about Kyle?" she asked, moving on to the next section of the board. I reminded her that her 5-year-old brother feeds the dog, does the silverware from the dishwasher, sets the table, and makes his bed.

The game is magnetic, and it has stayed put on the front of our fridge for several weeks now.

Why does this work? Well, the game suggests that a mutually agreed upon incentive is offered when the child reaches the end after moving one square per chore (There are also fun squares throughout the track, such as "Do two chores in an hour and move forward two squares," and "Trivia Question.").

It's taken the nagging out of helping around the house, because the kids can see their reward approaching. It's also brought out some competition. If Amanda sees Kyle's piece moving forward quickly, she wants to be sure that she has the opportunity to do some chores as well. I am always ready with a suggestion or two to help her out.

My daughter hates cleaning. It is a chore just to get her to do a chore. With this game, and some gentle reminding (Its not perfect, but it helps) she is made a major improvement in helping around the house. Plus, one of the chores I added was her homework and some daily reading assignments. I am glad that I found this.

I saw this advertised in one of my magazines and liked the versatility of it. I had looked for chore charts in the past for my son but many of them have chores already listed or magnets with prewritten chores. This board allows you to list your own chores and has a place for you to write the reward too. Board games are big at my house so the idea of advancing around the board to 'win' makes it more fun for my son. My son is 5 so we hadn't formally started chores with him. The board comes with some suggestions for how to play and what the chores should be like. This helped us get an idea of how we wanted to do it.

My kids (5 & 4) got into this game immediately! My house hasn't been this clean since they were born. They actually argue over who gets to clean the cat boxes or empty the silverware basket! I really hope that this game doesn't lose it's allure too quickly.