Mum-of-14 forces kids to 'chip in' and do housework - even on Christmas Day
A mum-of-14 has revealed how she makes sure her kids all chip in with the housework - even on Christmas day.
Virginia Revoir, 42, and her husband Charles, 45, from Arizona, Texas, USA, run a tight schedule in their seven-bed house, where each child gets assigned their own chore.
The stay-at-home mum and her partner, an electrical engineer, structure their daily family life by incorporating rewards after their kids have completed their chores for the day such as days or meals out.
From tidying their room to cleaning the loft, Chaz, 21, Ryan, 20, Adrianna, 19, Kyle, 18; Kaylene, 17; Ivy, 16, Gabriel, 16, Ashley, 14, Caleb, 12, Joshua, 12; Juliet, nine, Jaxon, six, Shayla, three; and Serenity, nine months.
All but the youngest two have chores but the eldest have the option to opt out by paying £18 [$25 USD].
Virginia said: “At Christmas, we give the kids time to enjoy their gifts and unwrap everything, before we make them tidy up and do chore time before family come along.
"I just call chore time and the kids are amazing at knowing their duties and getting it done within 30 minutes."
Some of the kids are assigned chores, whilst the others help out.
Virginia added: "Kyle is the chore checker, Ivy cleans the loft and backyard whilst Ashley does the laundry rooms and bathrooms.
"Caleb cleans the living room and upstairs hallway, Gabriel cleans the kitche.
"And Joshua cleans the dining room and entryway.
"Our younger ones, Josh and Juliet, just have to clean their rooms and feed the animals.
"Even on Christmas, the children complete their chores but they haven't got to wash up much as we have our dinner on Christmas eve."
The children are excluded from chores once a year on their birthday.
She adds: "Every morning we get together to make breakfast, and have family time together, where we talk about our day and what our plans are.
“Some go to school, but the rest are home schooled, so after lunch the home schoolers start on their first part of their chores during assigned chore time.
“They finish the rest of their chores when the school kids get home, it really adds structure to the day to make household life fair.
“There are no dishes to wash at meal time because everyone washes their own dishes and pots and pans that are used.
"If there are any left over from the little kids who can’t wash their own, the other kids will pick up and wash at least five dishes and five pieces silverware."
The older kids can even buyout their chores for the week, so they don’t have to do them at all, by giving their mum money.
Virginia rewards the kids to a range of activities after their hard work, especially in the lead up to Christmas.
She said: “We always try and do activities together, especially now that a few of the older ones have moved out because of work or university.
“We all got together to put the tree up this year and we actually all went to have fun at a trampoline park last week.
“We often do a themed Christmas as well so we can all do an activity together like paint balling.”
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