The girls got to see the Broadway tour of Annie last week when it came through Nashville, thanks to Nonnie. They enjoyed it a lot.
Ella got in trouble yesterday for taking her skirt off and dipping it in the sink and drenching it. As she was cleaning the floor (Sheryl recounted this story to me last night), she had the towel and was wiping up the floor and in all seriousness was singing, "It's a Hard Knock Life". Love that!
Chores and allowance...how many of you do this and what are the things that have worked for you? How much are the chores worth? (keep in mind, these are pre-schoolers)
This is my last Sunday on leave from Otter Creek. We're going back to Mosaic. I had a great two hour lunch with their pastor, Gary, this week. They are pioneers and have all the joys and struggles that come with the territory. I bought McManus's book, "Seizing Your Divine Moment" this week. So far so good. I'll let you know more about it as I continue.
Happy holiday weekend, everyone!
Friday, May 26, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
I think I would have been secretly videotaping that "Hard Knock Life" scene before having to be "Mom" and break it up. It would make a great scene in her graduation or wedding rehearsal video. Too funny!
For preschoolers, a dime a chore often works as a good incentive. Or "tickets" they can save up and trade in for prizes like picking a movie to rent, going for ice cream with Dad, etc.
Some chores are required because you allow them to breath the air you're paying for--no money (keeping their room clean, putting away dishes, etc.). Some bigger chrores can be rewarded monitarily (mowing the lawn, keeping pets fed, etc.).
I like Karen's idea of tickets. My kids would love that.
This chores & allowance question is a great one - one that I hope I'll get some advice on too.
We give our kids, ages 7 & 5, $1.50 & $1 per week, respectively, "because we love them". We don't have any 'required' chores, but we ask them to clean up after themselves & help us with the dog, etc.
Another thing we started was a way to earn "Book Bucks". These are tickets that they earn for doing special things that they can spend on all those Scholastic Book Orders that they get in school.
None of these ways are perfected & I'm actually thinking it's time to start giving them actual chores to do, but I don't know where to start either. Looking forward to reading more ideas!
We don't link chores with allowance. D.J. cleans off the table every night, makes his bed, picks up toys, or whatever the chore is because he's part of the family and we all help out. When he gets older we might pay him for special jobs like cleaning out the garage. We do give him a dollar every week (four quarters). He has three little tupperware containers in his room marked God, Save, Spend. We say a prayer thanking God for the money and then he puts the first quarter in the "God" bowl, the second in the "Save" bowl, the third in the "Spend" bowl, and then he can choose what to do with the fourth quarter (Being a normal kid, he puts it in spend.) The one thing I am noticing though is he doesn't remember about the allowance every week, so eventhough he's five, it still may be too young, but I am hoping that he is picking up on the principles of giving to God and saving.
Even though we give it to them "Becaue We Love Them", my wife and I often forget to give the kids their allowance until they remind us. Sometimes we'll go a couple weeks before anyone remembers and then we're all digging in couches to find the change. :-) Like Ella said - "It's a Hard Knock Life"...
Taking out the trash- $4
Mowing the Lawn- $12
Cleaning the toilets with toothbrushes- $7
Climbing in my lap and telling me that they love me- PRiceless
There are some chores that our kids do because they are part of being in the Shirley family like making the bed, putting toys away, etc. If they want to buy something special, they can do extra things to earn money. This seems to really work on teaching them responsibility and family identity; they feel like they really work hard and are proud of being in our family.
Post a Comment