The 16th president of the United States is quoted as saying, “The worst thing you can do for those you love is the things they could and should do themselves.” It’s such a simple, profound, timeless truth, isn’t it? Feeding animals in the wild can make them dangerously trusting of, and dependent on, humans for survival. What feels like a kindness in the short term is actually a disservice that, if continued over time, can destroy lives. So why are we still cleaning up after our kids?

The trouble when it comes to doing things for other humans is that it’s hard for us to know what they can and should to do for themselves, even in the case of our own children. I should know my kids’ capabilities well, since I’m with them every day, but some stubborn part of me keeps picturing them as the helpless loaves of potato bread I brought home from the hospital. The fact I don’t give them enough credit is only half the problem. It’s also much easier for me to clean something myself than it is to nag them about it, walk them through it, and watch them use techniques that are… well, different than mine.

Teaching my kids to clean up after themselves won’t be easy, but I’m making it a priority. Adults who didn’t have enough chores during childhood tend to be disorganized and unmotivated, always procrastinating even the simplest household tasks (opting instead to write blog posts, for example), and I want better for them.

Fortunately, there’s a lot of help online for disorganized, unmotivated cleaners like myself. I’ve adapted a few FlyLady routines to keep chaos at bay, and Pinterest is full of great ideas for the family like these clipboards and clothespins. This week, the kids and I painted our own clipboards and clothes pins to use as cleaning charts. They had a blast, and I’m hopeful that their competitive streaks will have them racing to ‘finish the course,’ at least a couple times a week.

We bought our supplies from Walmart: one medium density fiberboard clipboard ($1.27 for the small size) apiece and a package of wooden clothespins ($1.78). The girls (ages 4 and 6) used acrylic paint I had at home, and our baby boy (almost 2) used watercolors. I put a white base coat on each board before getting everyone started.

We found that simply switching clothes pins from the left to the right side of the board meant the lettering would be upside down. Writing the chore name in the opposite orientation on the back of each pin solved that problem, and I made sure to write the chore in the past tense on that side, as a sort of bonus English lesson. I also found felt-tipped pen was easier to write with than paint, and it reads perfectly clearly in person, though it doesn’t show up as well here.

I painted a beach on my board, with waves and storm clouds and pollution on one side, clear skies and sunshine on the other. Then I painted little birds onto each chore pin, trying to fly across to the other side (like I said, I’m a master procrastinator). I didn’t paint birds on the reverse side of the pins though, because I’d run out of patience.

I had all kinds of ideas by the time my kids woke up and started painting their boards the next morning. Visions of forest creatures scurrying into the woods, and zoo animals racing across a finish line, even salmon swimming upstream filled my head. But I remembered what Lincoln said, and told them to paint anything they liked on their boards. My six-year-old went with a night vs day theme, and asked for birds on her chore pins so they could fly toward the sunny skies. Her four-year-old sister made hers all sunshine and hearts and asked for panda pins. Their two-year-old brother painted an abstract piece I’m calling Farewell to Entropy.

A perk of using clothes pins on chore charts is that the kids can take them off the boards and wear them around. Whether they’re bragging about how much they’ve accomplished, asking for help, or reminding themselves where they left off, it seems like it’ll be a pretty versatile system.

This project was a lot of fun, and I hope the boards will serve as reminder for me to do less for my kids, and more with them. If the worst thing we can do for the people we love is what they’re capable of doing themselves, then the best thing we can do must be to help them explore and appreciate their own abilities.