Summer Work

When Mac’s Kindergarten teacher sent home summer work at the end of the year I knew I had to have a plan to get him to do it before the whining and excuses started.   I also figured (aka mom told me) it was time for Coe to start helping out and learning a little responsibility so out came the chore charts, counting beans, M&Ms, reading chart and most importantly the treasure box!

All summer Coe earned stars on his chore chart.  Each week he met his pre-set goal, he got to pick a toy from the treasure chest or go get a frozen yogurt (and as many toppings as he wanted!) from 32 degrees.  It was a slow start for Coe, but after his first successful week he was hooked.  Over the course of the summer we had several frozen yogurts and he “earned” quite a few Power Ranger keys and new Airplanes from the treasure basket! 

Mac was already used to a “chore chart” and “earning beans”, so transitioning to a new chart with the same concept as before was easy for him.  He gets 1 bean for every magnet on his chart.  At the end of the week he trades his magnets in for beans (white bean = 1 magnet, red bean equals 5 magnets) and whenever he is ready he can trade his beans in for something in the treasure box.  Its a simple system that we have used for a year or two and it helps him take responsibility, counting and learning the value of various treats/toys.  So far it has worked at our house! 

I also tracked Mac’s summer reading with a sticker chart.  We took the Lego sets his cousins sent him for his birthday and put them on display in the playroom.  They had various numbers on them depending on the size of the set and after reading that many books he got that set.  (Yes I made my child “earn” his own birthday presents, but lets be honest it didn’t hurt him, and I needed to spread out the number of open Lego sets on the Lego table!)  Mac ended up reading 60 books this summer!   He is only 15 books away from the last large Lego set! 

I try not to sweat the small stuff and instead focus on the big picture.  Having nice manners and respect for adults/not talking back were two areas of the big picture that we needed to work on, so I came up with the “jar system”.  Both boys have one but they are different b/c Mac and Coe are very different! Coe earns an M&M anytime he uses good manners with no prompting.  At the end of the night he gets to eat all the M&Ms in his jar.  I have NEVER heard so many pleases, thank yous, yes mams and “do I get another M&M?” in my life!  Mac has a coin jar.  If he talks back, isn’t listening, etc then he has to bring me $0.25.  Mac does not like to part with his money so this has also been fairly successful as long as Albi and I are consistent with it!  I rarely have to take more than $0.50 away in a day.   

  

Don’t get the wrong picture here.  My kids are by no means perfect angels who complete all their chores without me asking, always use nice manners and quietly sit around the house reading books.  There was still quite a bit of whining and excuses and a few stand offs between Mac and I on the reading issue, but overall I would say our system works for us.

Bottom line: Its hard to be a good parent and it takes a lot of time (I owe my mom way more thank yous than I can ever give her in one lifetime) but the end result is so worth it (mom, don’t you agree?).  Albi and I refuse to raise rude, bratty, lazy kids, and I’d say we are doing a good job avoiding that so far.  As for the tired grouchy parents…we are still working on that one!       .