Cohousing-L Mailing List: Chores for Grownups and kids

[Joaniblank (Joaniblank]

At Doyle St. we have reviewed chores a couple of times since we moved in 3
years ago. People who want a crack at the preferred jobs have been given
them, and we have expanded and contracted the "committees" assigned to
certain tasks according to need. Although we have an attitude of willingness
to rotate, many of us have been pretty stable in our jobs. We have also been
pretty accepting of the fact that some people do a lot extra, while others do
the minimum expected of them, if that. Everyone cooks, whether they eat many
meals or not. We recently set up a volunteer rotation for facilitators,
minutes takers and timekeepers for our monthly meetings. Those who are
willing to or like to do those jobs volunteered, and those who would rather
not, or know that they are not good at it, were not expected to sign up. (The
president of the condo association is responsibility for pulling together the
agenda, and the minutes taker duplicates and distributes the minutes that
he/she takes after each meeting.  Kids are not expected to do chores, but our
teenager does a lot of gratis child care, and makes birthday cakes as well.