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If you're like me, the thought of paying your children to work can do anything but make you reach for your pocket books. However, I've also learned that the sound of my ever-escalating voice isn't the greatest motivator in the world. As much as I'd hate to admit it, money talks, and it doesn't have to shout at my children to get them to make their beds.
So how do I go about starting this whole allowance process? My oldest children are only seven and five. But they know what they like and they've learned that usually the only obstacle between it and them is money. With a little brainstorming I came up with an idea that almost worked.
I decided to start each of them out with $2.50 for the week. Each time they were reminded (told twice) to do something 50 cents was knocked off their tab. If my son did something my daughter had been told twice to do, he received the 50 cents and vice versa. It wasn't long before they realized that I meant business. I did not cave to the excuse "But Mom, I didn't hear you the first time!" I knew that if I did the whole plan would fail. And if you want your kids fighting over anything, it's who gets to take out the trash.
So why was my plan less than perfect? When I started it I didn't realize that we would spend hours in the store finding something they could buy for $1.50. And asking a five year old to save her allowance is like asking me to skip out on pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving-it just doesn't happen. Back to the drawing board.
So I decided to make a magnetic chore chart on my computer. The kids got to draw their chore for the day out of a bag and put it by their name. Then at the end of the week, instead of getting an allowance, they would get the privilege of staying up later than usual, picking the movie for family night or something else. This has worked wonders and now my kids are actually asking me if they can do their chores!
This might be a great summer after all.
Shannon is webmaster to a website that offers Premade Scrapbook Pages that tell interesting facts about the day a person was born or married.
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