Our new reward system

Our new reward system

I am dead set banging my head against a brick wall at the moment with my oldest 2 little angels.  To put it nicely they are lazy little buggers.  Anyone would think I was some kind of hard taskmaster when it comes to getting them to do jobs around the house.  I am far from it.  All I ask of them is to make sure the floors are cleared, pick up and pt away toys etc, put their dirty clothes in the laundry, put their clean clothes away and do other little bits and pieces.  All up I think if they just did it instead of whining about it it would take about 10-15 minutes a day.

It is a real battle of the wills, one which I am losing.

So my foot has come down.  If they want to do all the fun stuff in the holidays like go to the pool or park or playdates with friends these lazy little beggers are going to help me out.  At 5 1/2 and nearly 4 they are more than capable of doing a few chores.  I am willing to help them for example I know the nearly 4 year old can't open his drawers properly to put his clothes away so I am happy to give him a hand with this but everything else they can do on their own.

I saw via my facebook feed one of my friends comment on a photo of their friends which showed a picture which I have replicated to suit us.

Simply the kids have to fill their buckets with the rocks.  Once the bucket is filled they can have whatever their little hearts desire (within reason) however bad behaviour or whinging sees rocks taken out.

This worked brilliantly for the first few days.  They both within half an hour or so got to put 3 rocks in.  Then the fighting and bickering started, which I normally ignore but they upset the baby, so their rocks were tipped out and they had to start again.  The next morning without being asked they both did things so more rocks were added and similar to the day before the bad behaviour and also whining about doing chores started and the rocks were gone again.

Then we/they lost interest and we haven't been doing this but I am certain this is a great solution for us/them and I am going to implement it again.  As I am not a complete monster if they do get more than a handful of rocks I won't make them tip them all out but I will take a few.  I am also thinking of a carrot I can dangle like fill the bucket and we will go to the zoo or aquarium.

Because the big two are close in age these are the jobs I am asking them to do.

• Pick up and put away toys/books etc.
• Unpack school bags- lunchboxes and drink bottles out, any notes given to me etc, bags away, school shoes put away.  This will carry over to next year, 5 days for kindy kid and 2 days for the nearly 4 year old.  Also next year will see the start of homework and not just home readers.
• Clean clothes put away, any dirty clothes put in the laundry.
• Water plants although with the mental weather we have had lately this is one job we haven't had to worry about this.
• Sometimes vacuum and dust etc.  I say sometimes as I can vacuum the house in the entire time it takes them to do half a tile on the floor!!
• Make sure the dogs have water.
• They are both loving to make sandwiches for lunch and crackers for snacks so I think I can add make lunch to the list!!
• They both want to do more cooking so I think two days a week I will get them to help me out, one one day and one the next.
• Lastly the school is having a summer reading challenge in collaboration with our local library (basically the kids will get stickers every time they borrow books).  I was planning on at least 15 minutes of reading/writing everyday in the holidays so this will tie in nicely.  I will make a little sheet up for the preschooler so he can join in as well.

I don't think these are unreasonable things to be getting them to do.  I want them to fill their buckets and be rewarded!!  I shall keep you updated on our progress!!


Song of the day is a massive fave of mine, it makes me turn the volume up and car dance while singing at the top of my lungs!!