I am one of those people who is never very consistent with chore charts and such. We start them, we do OK, we get lazy and stop them, etc. There have been times we've had them every week, times we've had none at all, times when we pay a weekly allowance, times when we pay nothing at all. You see what I mean about being very inconsistent?!
The other day I got thinking and came up with what I *hope* will be a brilliant idea in our home.
Here are some known truths around here:
* my kids want to be on the computer more
* I need to get off the computer more
* my kids want to 'earn' for helping with chores
* right now our budget is really tight so I have no real means to 'pay' for such chores
So here is the plan ... for each chore they complete, they earn a certain amount of minutes on the computer! So simple, right?!
I have yet to write up an actual chart, and I might not even bother, but let's say they unload the clean dishes from the dishwasher, then reload the dirty ones - I might 'pay' them with 10 minutes of playing on the computer.
The beauty in this plan is:
1. I'm getting the help I need around the house
2. They're getting the time they want on the computer
3. When they're on the computer - I'M NOT! - which is brilliant cause it keeps me off it more often and doing other things around the house that I should be doing! {We only have ONE computer, so if they're on, I'm OFF!}
I actually spent a huge chunk of my afternoon yesterday crafting because I wasn't wasting my time browsing facebook!
I really am a genius ...
And I will let you know in a couple weeks whether we're still sticking with it and if it's still working out well. =)
3 comments:
sounds brilliant to me! :)
I love that idea! I was thinking of doing the reverse: start with 30min a day of computer time and if they don't obey, they lose 10min. 3 strikes they're out. But I like encouraging good behavior rather than punishing. Sooooo pls share what you come up with. This sounds brilliant!
That really is a good idea:) We have not always been very consistent with our chore chart--mostly b/c the kids didn't want to keep up with them so we didn't pay them..ha We're all trying very hard right now though. The kids have been doing great with their chart for the past several weeks and thus are earning some allowance. However, when they want computer time, I set the timer for them. I should be setting it for ME, too! LOL
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