Our New Melissa and Doug Responsibilities Chart

I’ve thought it was time to help Ella have some regular chores around the house for quite some time now. While she potty trained and we worked on building the teeth brushing habit and getting dressed in the morning without a fuss, I toyed with the idea of making my own. I looked up pictures online, read up on age-appropriate responsibilities, and never moved forward with the idea. Now that Ella is getting older and she is clearly able to put on her coat, zip things, help with her shoes, etc., I’ve really felt like this is the time to get her started with this.

Just as I really made this decision, I came across the Melissa and Doug Responsibilities Chart. A local hobby shop in our town is a hidden gem. They have the largest selection of Melissa and Doug toys I’ve ever seen in one place! Unfortunately, they were too much of a secret and recently went out of business. As they prepared to close, everything in the store was 25% off. I’d purchased puzzles, coloring supplies, and cooking toys from this store in the past, so I hurried in to stock up on these high quality toys for future gifts. Amongst the puzzles, I discovered the Responsibilities Chart and couldn’t pass it up!

I also taught a wonderful lesson to the Young Women at church this past Sunday on sharing work in the home. It talked about how every family member contributes to the mess in the home and everyone should be a part of working to maintain the home. The lesson also did a lovely job talking about how work brings personal growth, builds family relationships, and helps us to learn self-sufficiency.

This was my favorite quote: “I do not believe people can be happy unless they have work to do. One can really be more of a slave to idleness than to work. Work also keeps us humble and reminds us of how all our blessings come to us from our Heavenly Father…If we learn to work early in life, we will be better individuals, better members of families, better neighbors, and better disciples of Jesus Christ, who Himself learned to work as a carpenter.” ~ Elder Neal A. Maxwell

So, when our weekly Family Home Evening came around this week, I decided to share the chart with Ella. We prayed, then sang “When We’re Helping, We’re Happy,” then introduced the chart to our girl. I did not want this to be another opportunity for candy rewards like with potty training and I also wanted it to be fun. So, I selected responsibilities I already knew she liked, such as brushing her teeth and taking a bath. I also added some things she resists a bit, like getting dressed and getting ready for bed. Then I added in some new things I knew she could do, such as clear the table and pick up toys. Lastly, I selected a behavior prompt in “say please and thank you.” As our reward, we went with “get an extra book at bedtime.”

I can’t tell you how relieved I felt when she showed sincere excitement for the colored magnetic smiley faces! It was a bit of a bummer when I told her she couldn’t play with them, but she’s been asking if she could put a smiley face on the chart for the past two days. This new chart has prompted her to show excitement for responsibilities she’s never tried (like clearing table) and ones she always resists (like cleaning her toys).

The chart comes with numerous tasks and behavior prompts, so you can change them according to your child’s age and needs. You know I love quality things, but I’m also thrifty. I would say this high-quality chart is definitely worth the price. We can use it for years to come when Ella grows out of it. In fact, we’ll probably need another before she does for Big Guy. We could really use a family chart to include mom and dad too!