Ok, so my kids are only 4 & 5 and so I know there is a balance between what they are really capable of and what I sometimes wish they were capable of (example: being able to really help me shovel the snow covered driveway this week). For most of us, keeping the house clean is the hardest part of having little ones and I feel that it is good to teach personal responsibility at a young age.
At our house we started the "Job Jar" the kid punched the holes & decorated the jar with clip art and modge podge. We added on slips of paper tasks that they were capable of doing themselves and we mixed them all up. We use the jar to redirect energies and to help around the house. It is a fun way to get chores done & totally up to you to add a reward to the fun. I haven't yet introduced a reward because they still think it is fun to pull out a job & accomplish it on their own :)
From Roseann: Another idea is to create a Boredom Buster Jar. Create your jar with the kids, then come up with different ideas of things to do when they come to you with, "I'm bored!" Some thoughts I had were - make up a song about your favorite food; create a "ransom note" by cutting out the individual letters from a magazine; find your favorite storybook and act it out, changing the ending; make a collage poster of your favorite vacation spots using pictures from a magazine. The website Aha! Parenting.com (yourparentingsolutions.com) has some great ideas for the Boredom Buster Jar as well, like, "write Grandma a letter," and "plan a treasure hunt" - click HERE for those ideas.
Any other suggestions, either for the Job Jar, or the Boredom Buster Jar?
