I Did My Chores!

With summer vacation only a month away, the dreaded doldrums—the affliction that makes movement from the couch tantamount to being stretched on the rack—can also be expected. Most of us remember that we would do or say almost anything to get out of doing daily chores. Now, thanks to the new “I Did My Chores!” The Hassle Free Chore System from Pressing Matters Publishing (ToyFairPreview), parents and kids no longer have to dread the call to action.

Created by former elementary school teacher Deeanne Graham Gist, “I Did My Chores!” is an easy-to-use kit containing 50 chore cards color-coded for morning, noon, after school, night time and extra, with blank cards included for the parent to create unique tasks. After a chore is completed, the child drops the chore card in the “I Did It!” box, to be redeemed for a pre-determined number of “treat” tokens from Mom and Dad. The best part for parents? The child maintains the entire system, with each chore broken down into smaller tasks that remove the need for parental nagging.

Created for kids ages 4 and up (with pictures for non-readers), Gist used the system for nine years with her own four children, and recent informal market tests have shown a 100% success rate. Besides lifting the nagging burden from parents, the system claims to teach kids emotional intelligence in the form of self-motivation and delayed gratification.

A second chore set for kids ages 9-12 will be released within the year, and another set designed for teens, “I Did My Homework: The Hassle Free Homework System for Teens,” will be released in 2005. The sets retail for $19.95. Inquiries can be made at the company’s website at ididmychores.com

Writer's Bio: Tim Connolly has a degree in film production form the University of Texas at Austin and writes screenplays when he isn’t test-driving remote control speed boats in his bathtub.

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