Chores

Things are finally starting to settle down. Gary is back at work, T-ball and Tiger ball are over, the garden of weeds has once again become a garden of vegetables, and life is getting back to normal. I can't believe how nice it is to have our routine back. I'm really enjoying the "boring" life we lead!

This summer I started a chore chart with the three oldest. They each have about six jobs they do every day and, depending on how well they do them or how many reminders I need to give, they earn points for completing the chores. Our first goal was Kung Fu Panda. They needed to earn a variety of points depending on the person and then once all three had met their point goal, Gary would take them to the movies. They went last Saturday - probably the week before it hit the dollar show! - and they all four had a great time. Today we sat down to discuss our next point goal. So far it is a group reward so I threw out a couple I thought they would love. That should have been my first clue.

I offered to take them to Deleta roller skating or to McDonalds for dinner (they demolished one of our McDonalds to rebuild and it's just about done complete with a new play place) after everyone had earned 200 points. Tom wanted skating and just because he did, Logan and Ethan wanted McDonalds. I told them they all needed to agree. They started throwing out their own options and finally wanted to go to our pizza/video game/miniature golf/laser tag/play ground called Outer Limits. Since this was going to cost us twice what the other two were, I told them it would also cost them 400 points thinking they would say no way. Wrong! They were all three on board and ready to earn points to Outer Limits. This chore thing is going great. They get the stuff done I need them to without any more complaining that they are doing more than someone else. In a month or so we'll all be eating dinner at Outer Limits too! That's a win-win!