Payday!

I admit it. I go a little crazy when my house is a mess and chaotic. I had this distorted vision of what my future family and home would be like when I was young. My home would always be clean, my kids would have jobs and responsibilities, they would never fight or be allowed to call each other names, my home would be a little piece of heaven at all times. Fast forward a few decades . . . heaven? Not even close (well maybe around 10 pm when they are all sleeping quietly in their own beds). Unfortunately, my kids do fight and call each other names. And it's been impossible to maintain any kind of order in the house on weekends with everyone in the house at the same time. I knew something needed to change if we were going to survive the summer together.

The last few summers, I implemented job charts with coupons the kids could earn. Shop til you drop with mom. Un-birthday party. Spend the day at work with dad. Movie night. Bowling with a friend. Build-a-bear excursion. It was a great idea but I was terrible at following through on the coupons. The kids earned them but rarely got to do what was on the coupon. I knew I needed to do something differently this time around.

Every parenting book seems to agree that it's not good to have an allowance dependent on chores completed. Kids should do their chores because that's what is expected of them and part of their responsibility in the family. Blah, blah, blah. I had to figure out something that would motivate my kids to do their jobs without me asking and reminding them all day long. And money was the best motivator.

They can earn $5.00 every week for doing all of their jobs right when they wake up. I'll help them but I'm not free. I charge $.25 for each chore they leave for me. I also charge $.25 for each piece of clean laundry that ends up on the laundry room floor (one child found this was the quickest way to clean his room). Jack and Ryan were very excited about the possibility of earning $5/week. Hadley, not so much. She's my child who enjoys serving. She said she didn't want any money for doing her jobs. I explained what the money could be used for--slurpees, shaved ice, shakes, birthday gifts, father's day, bowling, movies and popcorn, etc. All things my kids love!

The first week went pretty well. The house stayed clean (which is quite the accomplishment with 6 kids), they were able play with friends and there was order in the home. Jack and Ryan both lost a few quarters along the way (Jack paid me $.25 to do the dishes last night) but were all happy to get their money today. All but Hadley. She still didn't want to take her $5 but I forced her to take it and now she can go get a father's day gift with the money. It's amazing how excited they all were to do their jobs this morning with the new job lists posted and money in their wallets. Hopefully the excitement will last for 9 more weeks.

Weekly Job Lists

The kids had this great idea of taping a pen on their job lists. Morgan had a better idea. . . taking the pen off of the list and drawing all over the wall.

I need to let this cute girl do more. I realized this morning that she'd never vacuumed before. I showed her how to do it and let her loose. She loved it and actually did a good job (if you don't care too much about the vacuum going full speed into the chairs, couch and tv console). Looks like it's time for a new job list to be added to the wall. Welcome to the world of daily chores, Morgan!