June 17, 2005

Chores for Children

By Ken Lotich
Times Intern

Three bucks a week just wasn’t cutting it. Brandon needed to negotiate. He went in with nothing to lose and asked his parents for a raise on his allowance.

Nick Sohm, entering sixth grade at Laurelwood Elementary School in the fall, earns a steady allowance based on his accomplished tasks documented on his chore chart.

Brandon is typical of most 10-year-olds. He likes to play video games, but sometimes forgets to do his chores.

His parents obliged his request—however, certain expectations would have to be fulfilled—and that’s where “Chores for Children” came in.

“Chores for Children” is the brainchild of Cristin Sohm, an Evergreen mom, who created the small business in
December 2004.

Her Web site, www.choresforchildren.com, allows parents to customize a chore chart, which she creates and delivers. The lead time on a chart is seven days. Each chart costs $75, with a $5 discount for additional charts.

Customers can choose from a variety of color schemes, and the chart can either be constructed horizontally or vertically, with the child’s name featured at the top. Some families place the chart in their child’s room, and others opt for a more prominent place like the kitchen.

Chore tags
Here’s how it works. Parents designate up to 12 specific chores per chart. Examples of common chore tags are “Brush teeth,” “Do homework” or “Eat breakfast and [take] vitamin.” Since children typically accomplish many of these chores anyway, they are included to set the children up to be successful. 

Chore tags can also be personalized. If a customer’s children actively participate in sports, for example, a tag could say, “Clean Out Sports Bag.”

A “Daily Chore” tag placed on the chart can represent any chore the family designates on a specific day of the week, such as “Trash helper” on Monday or “Vacuum a room” on Saturday.

Incentives
Sohm suggests parents use the scale of $1 allowance, payable on Sunday, for each day that every chore was completed. If every single chore is complete for the week, parents can reward their child with a $1 bonus.

The possibility of an $8 allowance each week is enticing to many children, including Brandon, said Michael Farnia, his father.

“The chore sheet helped me increase his daily chores in return for rewarding him with $8 allowance upon completion of weekly chores,” Farnia said. “An additional reward is extra Playstation time. The tracking of complete and incomplete chores has definitely reduced his disappointment when denied extra allowance money or Playstation time.”

Flexibility
The chart also allows for some leeway, Sohm said. For instance, if there is a busy day, and the child is unable to complete a certain task, he or she can make it up on another day. The only chore that can’t be made up is the behavior tag.

Evergreen resident Cristin Sohm recently launched her “Chores for Children” business, which is receiving rave reviews from parents and children alike.

A blue ribbon reward tag is another feature of the chore chart. It acts as an incentive for a child who does well on a test or performs a good deed. This tag is essentially a free pass on any of the other chores for the day.

Sohm said one of the most important aspects in raising a responsible child is to give them positive reinforcement for a job well done.

Sohm’s belief about raising conscientious children is reflected on her “Chores for Children” Web site, which features her motto: “We all want our children to grow into successful, independent and responsible adults. How do we help them to learn these very important characteristics? We set them up to be successful by providing them with achievable goals.”

Sohm, who has lived near Evergreen Park with her family for 15 years, said she created the business because she loves to see children become successful. That includes her own son Nick, an 11-year-old attending Laurelwood Elementary School, and her 21-year-old daughter Mellissa, who attends college, works two jobs and recently bought her first home.

Easy-to-use, visual
Currently Sohm said most of her customers are from the Evergreen area, but a few orders have come from as far north as Sunnyvale. Sohm said she enjoys delivering the completed project so she can answer questions.

Brandi Sosa, a parent of three, said that in the past she tried rewarding her children for completing their chores, but her intentions didn’t pan out well. When she acquired the chore chart, things took a turn for the better.

“We needed something that was really easy to use and that was visual,” she said. “We needed something that would help us remember what got accomplished by whom.”

Yamini Mitter, a parent of two boys, said the chore chart has been a valuable commodity for her sons. “They become very excited when they complete the whole chore sheet for the week,” Mitter said. “They always have it in their minds even when they are in bed ready to sleep.”

Mitter said she is appreciative of Sohm’s work. “By making all these chore charts, she is raising up a very responsible and motivated generation,” Mitter said.

For more information on “Chores for Children,” call (408) 274-6639, e-mail sales@choresforchildren.com or go to the Web site www.choresforchildren.com.