I’m glad you found The Trip Clip® blog! I’ll post here about new activities and clipart, fun ways to use The Trip Clip products, and about life as a Tech Mom. I love to hear from others, so leave a comment any time!
I always try to remind myself whenever I ask the kids to take on house chores that there are TWO goals:
Often parents remember the first one, but are so frustrated by how much more effort it takes than to just do it themselves, they forget the second goal. No one is good at anything the first time they try it, so your kids need to practice cleaning just like they practice anything else. The Trip Clip® Cleaning Checklists are a great guide to help kids remember all the steps, and also to help them know that there really is an end to this truly horrible task. My kids have sometimes complained that it feels endless to them because I keep “adding on more jobs”. If they can see the whole list of tasks right from the start then they can at least track how far through it they are, and trust that I’m not just going to add things to their list infinitely.
This checklist helps make a task that seems overwhelming feel manageable by breaking it into smaller steps. It makes your expectations clear, helps your kids know how to start, and helps them know there really is an end in sight!
You can print this list for free right now.
Or, if you need to make some changes to make it work well for your family, you can easily edit this list to make it just right.
For more room cleaning checklists, check this out:
There are lots of things that your kids won’t learn in school that they need to know in order to survive on their own. If your kids are in high school, you may have a sudden moment of realization that there is limited time left to teach them things like how to sew on a button, how to find a good doctor, or how to call a cab.
You can print this convenient, 1-page chart for free to help keep track of which of these skills your kid has mastered. You can also use the links below to edit these lists to remove tasks that aren’t important to you, and add others that are.
If there are things I’m missing, let me know in the comments below! Other parents might like seeing your suggestions too.
Chores are a great way to teach responsibility, as well as a ton of important life skills. Many parents aren’t sure what to expect of their kids, so here is a good list of chores that most 6-9 can try and learn.
This list might not be quite right for your 6-9 year old. You can easily edit this list to make it just right for your family. And remember that kids shouldn’t have these skilled mastered at age 6! Sometime between ages 6 and 9 you can introduce these chores, teach your kids how to do them, and give them chances to practice and eventually master them.
Sometimes trying to get information from your kids about how their school day was is like pulling teeth. If I ask “How was your day?” I am almost guaranteed to get the response: “Fine”. I learned early on to bypass that question, and jump straight to something from the list below. Often one of these more specific questions will get them thinking through their day and information will pop out whether they meant it to or not.
For my kids, the crazier the question the more likely I was to get an answer. They seemed to respond best to the “Did anyone cry today” or “Who got hurt today” questions. And recess seemed to loom large for both of them, so asking questions about that would often get them talking so I could learn a little more about who they were spending time with, what the dynamics were with the other kids, and what they were passionate about.
If you can keep these questions in your head and pull them out randomly at dinner, that’s great. You might also think about taping them to the inside of a cabinet they don’t often open and referring to the list right before you sit down to dinner to pick one or two to throw out during the year.
If you try this, or if you have other good questions suggestions, let me know in the comments below!
With the new school year starting I’ve been getting a lot of requests to add clipart to the lunch box checklist. It’s a great way to help your kids take more responsibility for packing their lunch AND keep it healthy. Here are all the new items I added. Check out the complete list of available items here.
I always try to remind myself whenever I ask the kids to take on house chores that there are TWO goals:
Often parents remember the first one, but are so frustrated by how much more effort it takes than to just do it themselves, they forget the second goal. No one is good at anything the first time they try it, so your kids need to practice cleaning just like they practice anything else. The Trip Clip® Cleaning Checklists are a great guide to help kids remember all the steps, and also to help them know that there really is an end to this truly horrible task. My kids have sometimes complained that it feels endless to them because I keep “adding on more jobs”. If they can see the whole list of tasks right from the start then they can at least track how far through it they are, and trust that I’m not just going to add things to their list infinitely.
This checklist helps make a task that seems overwhelming feel manageable by breaking it into smaller steps. It makes your expectations clear, helps your kids know how to start, and helps them know there really is an end in sight!
You can print this list for free right now.
Or, if you need to make some changes to make it work well for your family, you can easily edit this list to make it just right.
The School Schedule Activity can be useful in many scenarios. Here are two FREE lists you can try for yourself.
The first is great for both home school families and for kids with special needs. A visual checklist is a great way to help keep everyone on track.
Try it on your mobile phone for free
The second list can help special needs kids remember what they need to do when they arrive at school each day. These kind of detailed picture checklists are a great way to help kids stay independent but still do all the things that are expected of them.
