Shoe Jail and Chore Charts

I’ve been fighting a battle in our house, and losing. The battle of small shoes. Everywhere. Everywhere I look is a shoe. Every morning there is a panic because we’re about to be late and can’t find the second shoe. Driving me absolutely nuts. Each child has a bin for their shoes, why don’t they use it?

One day, I snapped/had a stroke of brilliance. I enacted “shoe jail”. Basically, you leave your shoes laying around, I confiscate them. The first few days, they were both diligent to put their shoes away. But after the novelty wore off, shoes were left out, and I was almost giddy to swoop in. However, I hadn’t really thought about what shoe jail was going to be, but I knew it had to be visible but not accessible. On top of the fridge they went!

The next day, Ella was horrified they were there. Once again, I had to think about…how would she earn them back? Ah yes, she’ll have to work for them. When Ella got home from school, she had to scrub a couple of toilets to earn her shoes back. She actually loved it.

A couple of days later, both girls left their shoes our again. Up on the fridge they went. Both girls were bawling when they saw their shoes. Two more toilets cleaned and a bedroom straightened, shoes earned back.

We’ve now had shoes put in their place for over a month.

Since these two love doing jobs, aside from having to earn their shoes back, I decided this summer, I would institute a chore chart. Just a couple of small things for them to do daily. The teacher in me got all crafty and whipped up the chart. The girls wanted it hung on their bedroom wall – who doesn’t like a reminder of what they need to get done that day immediately when they open their eyes?! They were so excited to use it before school got out for summer, that we’ve been doing a few chores every day already.