These rules and forms came about when my eldest came home from 7th grade and told me that she was going steady. Going steady didn't meant the same thing to her as it did to me. I wasn't ready for my child to start dating and decided I had better lay out some guidelines and rules immediately to avoid arguments. Having no experience of my own to really guide me (I dated very little before marriage), I did alot of research and came up with the house rules. We didn't follow them to the letter but they came in handy. 

I remember my youngest being told my her big brother that she had to go to bed "right now!". She ran to the house rules and told him that "No, the house rules say that I can stay up later on Saturday nights!"

There were no arguments about allowances. Very little complaining about a sibling being able to do something when they weren't allowed to. 

The forms about cleaning and housework came about because telling my kids to clean their room meant totally different things to them and to me. To them it meant hiding things under the bed and throwing things in the closet. It didn't mean actually cleaning anything - just picking up. Most of the forms were only used a couple of times. Just to get the idea across about what I meant when I asked them to do something. 

My mother had a wonderful story about telling my brother to go take a bath. After checking on him after a few minutes when she didn't hear the water running, she found that he had decided to try dry cleaning. Apparently taking a bath didn't necessarily mean using water to him. 

I ran into an old neighbor who told me how much she liked the house rules that I had. She was raising a grandchild and having a copy of my rules gave her something to use when she needed to set limits for her child. She got a copy of them and made copies for others. Having written house rules cuts down on arguments with your children and arguments between them.  The rules are clear and written down. The parent is not put in the position of being the bad guy as often. Click on the "House_Rules_.pdf" (left)  to bring up the printer-friendly pdf version. Click on the title (right) to bring up the WebPages. Now that my children are grown, I no longer use them so I am passing them on to you.  Some of the pages I have on WebPages so you can read them easily. The pdf formats print better. After 30 years of raising children, there are some things on the rules I would change which I commented about at the bottom on the WebPages. 

The following were saved using Adobe Acrobat 5.0:

Free Home Management forms:

(Some of these were printed on a dot matrix. Most are of better quality.)

House_Rules_1.pdf  - Money and Bedtimes

House_Rules_2.pdf - Golden Rules

House_Rules_3.pdf - Chores and Priorities

House_Rules_4.pdf - Automobiles/Driving

House_Rules_5.pdf - Rules for Dating and Going Out with Friends

House_Rules_6.pdf - Rules for Parties

House_Rules_7.pdf - Getting Along at Home

House_Rules_8.pdf - Personal Care

House_Rules_9.pdf - So now you're 18...

Other useful forms:

Authorization_to_Medical_Treat_Minor.pdf - If your child is going to stay with a friend or relative for a few days, it is a good idea to have one of these filled out.

Christmas_Gift_List.pdf - If you keep a list of what you bought and wrapped, you won't forget to get something for someone.

Christmas_Wish_List.pdf - It gets difficult to buy anything for teenagers and adults. 

Clean_the_Bathroom.pdf - Good for assigning the job to someone who doesn't usually clean the bathroom. Also good for people who get sidetracked easily to keep them on task.

Clean_Your_Bedroom.pdf - Keeps the job on task. 

Family_Signout_Sheet.pdf - Having blanks to fill out means that you have the important information

Important_Numbers.pdf - Do you have a list of everyone's Social Security Numbers?

Laundry.pdf - The basics on doing laundry

Parent_as_School_Volunteer_1.pdf - If you want to get parents to volunteer to help at school, don't send home sheets for them to sign and return to the school. Talk to them in person at a school function (open house) and help them fill out the form

Parent_as_School_Volunteer_2.pdf

Party_Planner.pdf - Parties don't just happen. It takes some planning for them to go well.

Spring_Cleaning_Joblist.pdf - If the job gets listed, it is more likely to get done.

Telephone_Messages.pdf - Recycle paper by printing these on the back. 

Volunteers_for_Teachers.pdf - Our teachers were not used to having volunteers. All they wanted was parents to relieve them of being on the playground and to do photocopying.

Weekly_Chores_Schedule.pdf - Kids can be hard-of-hearing sometimes. A schedule posted on the refrigerator gets around this problem.

Weekly_Cleaning_Inspection.pdf - For the bathroom and bedroom

Weekly_Dejunking.pdf - Dejunking can be the hardest job of all. 

Weekly_Dusting.pdf - Good for people who haven't done much dusting.

Weekly_Menu_Plan_1_Blank.pdf - If you plan some meals, kids can start the meal, food won't stay in the freezer for years, fresh food will get used while it is still fresh. This one doesn't assign the food to specific days. Cross off the items when used for a meal.

Weekly_Menu_Plan_2_Blank.pdf - These next three forms are similar. Use the one you like best.

Weekly_Menu_Plan_3_Blank.pdf

Weekly_Menu_Plan_4_Blank.pdf

Weekly_Vacuuming.pdf - Vacuums come with attachments that are great for dusting.