big family, big rules

This Mom Of Six Got Major Flack After Sharing Her Kids' "Strict" Schedule

The internet was most upset by her bath routine.

by Katie Garrity
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
A TikTok mom shared her strategies for managing a large household, including screen time rules, bath...
@sharon.a.life / TikTok

A mom of six shared her strict and regimented rules and schedule for her family on TikTok in a now-viral video that’s causing quite the commotion. For a mom handling the lives of six smaller humans, how could she not have some sort of routine set? That part makes sense. However, some in her comment section couldn't understand the reasoning behind some of her rules.

Utah mom of six, Sharon Johnson, shared her strategies for managing a large household, including screen time rules, bathing routines, and chore obligations. Johnson swears that these rules help keep her home manageable.

“Tech time is only Tuesdays and Thursdays. You get an hour, and you have to check out the laptops so we know who had them last just in case they get lost or broken,” she begins before sharing how bathing and cleanliness work in their household. (This one rule really had the internet in a tizzy.)

“Bath and shower days are Sunday and Wednesday. If you need a bath in between that, then absolutely. But otherwise, that's good enough,” she says.

“The kids get an allowance. They get a dollar for every year of how old they are. This means I don't have to keep track of who I bought, what, when. I can just be like, ‘Okay, do you have any money?’”

Johnson also is a proponent of the “No Sleepovers” rule that many millennial parents are also adopting. Instead, she opts for “late nights.”

“Then I don't have to decide whose house is safe. It's safe enough,” she says.

As for household responsibilities and chores, Johnson explains that each kid is assigned two age-appropriate chores.

Johnson continues, “Everybody has two chores, and you do those two chores every single day for an entire year. No chore charts to keep track of. Kids get really good at their chores. There's no moaning and complaining when I say, ‘Hey, do your chore.’ And they're not like, ‘Oh, I don't want to do that chore because it's just the same chore.’ I mean, they groan a little bit, but not as much.”

Johnson also says that she pays her older kids to babysit their siblings because “it's not their job to take care of their siblings.”

With six children, extracurriculars and youth sports could have the potential to take over (and eventually blow up) any parent’s entire world. Johnson has a solution for that.

“Every kid gets two extracurriculars, something like musical or theater-related, and then a sport. And this might change as the kids get older, but for now, this is all we can handle,” she says.

Other rules include no cellphones until 12 years old, dinners are on a two-week rotation plan, no food allowed outside the kitchen, kids are free to work on a craft anytime, and mom leaves the house every Tuesday night to take herself out for some self-care time.

With a large family like Johnson, rules and boundaries are a must. In this case, her rules seem fair and pretty reasonable. However, some in her comment section took issue with a few of her principles.

“No sleepovers is so unfair,” one user wrote.

“If someone told me I could only bathe TWO days a week… I’m throwing hands…,” another noted.

Another said, “this is my personal hell”

“I can’t imagine only having two baths a week during the summer months. 😩,” another wrote.

“EVERYONE NEEDS A DAILY BATH why is this so hard to understand 😫” one user commented.

The OP replied “Everyone needs to do some googling. Why is this so hard to understand?! 😅❤️❤️🤣”

Another user questioned, “2 washes a week ????????????”

“AND AS NEEDED 😅 You people are wild. Also.. this is what every doc recommends for kids. 😅🤣,” Johnson wrote back.

In another comment, Johnson explains that they have one working shower for eight people and live in a very dry climate with “sensitive-skinned people.”

Others came to the defense of Johnson, writing that her rules for her large family actually seemed fine.

“Guys I am not trying to be problematic but how many ppl commenting are actually parents? Bc I am 100% okay with all of these rules?” one user wrote.

“As an eldest sister who spent a lot of time babysitting for no compensation, THANK YOU for paying them to babysit!,” another said.

“Nothing wrong with consistency and boundaries, I think a lot of the commenters are spoiled kids or parents whose kids run their homes!” another wrote.

This article was originally published on