Anyone else struggle with getting their kids to do their chores without grumbling? They want their allowance but I am constantly having to nag, I mean remind, them to do their chores plus I was tired of having to come up with a weekly chore chart that changed the chores around so they didn't get bored....yes my kids have told me that doing the same chores over and over is boring! I can totally relate...I get so tired of cooking, cleaning, working, etc...it is so boring, you can hear the sarcasm in my voice can't you? I came across a neat idea in Family Fun's July edition....reward jars. The idea was to have a small jar or container for each child, they can even decorate their jar. The kids earn marbles, pebbles, etc for chores done. Every chore has a set amount of marbles it is worth. Some of chores are simple like brushing teeth and only worth 1 marble and other jobs like cleaning out the bunny cage is worth 3 marbles. When their jar is full they get a reward either cash, special outing, friend over, etc. The reward can be different based on your child's age and what they enjoy. Money is a big reward over here as my kids are always saving up for something! So the child does a chore and comes to move and tells which chore they just did and ask mom/dad who are they keeper of the marbles, for the correct of amount of marbles. There is a catch to it though.....you can lose marbles for bickering or doing a job sloppily in order to get a marble! My kids are super excited about this new system and I am too. The author of the article said she had kids ages 8-17 and had been using the system successfully for over a year. I am hoping we have great success with it to. I think it will be great b/c the jars stay sitting out where the kids can see them so they can see it filling up and be proud and excited!
Yesterday we went to The Dollar Tree and got our jars and pebbles to put in them. Today I am working on a list of chores and how many marbles each chore is worth. The kids have already earned some marbles and are on their way to filling their jars!
The jars and pebbles....we still have to get some paint and decorate them.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Reward Jars!
Posted by Holly Aytes at 3:20 PM
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8 comments:
Fantastic idea! Thanks for sharing it. We may be trying it very soon. I can totally relate to your post! Hope it works well for you. Let us know how it goes. ;)
We totally do this. They are required to do certain chores, simply because they are members of this house. But for all the extras they earn different marbles. We made a reward chart and and "take away" chart. Also, hint, fill a jar yourself and count how many make it "full"...My middle on was stacking his like a pyramid to make it look full LOL....that why they can dumb the jar and count how many more until it's full. :)
Andrea, each child has 50 marbles and that is exactly what it takes to fill up the jar. They receive marbles for the chores that they are required to do as well as for extra chores they decide to do. Hoping that cuts down on the whining.
I so need something like this! I was just thinking how lax we've all gotten over the summer at our house about kids' chores, bedtimes, structure, etc. And thanks for mentioning how to know when the jar is full...very crucial info to have ahead of time! Do you decide on the reward ahead of time, too? Thanks for posting this, Holly!
Cindy we are planning on letting them pick their reward once the jar is full. That way it can be whatever they are wanting right then and it can change each month. It should take them about a month to fill up their jar.
Great idea for "chores". Wish someone would give me a jar and let me pick my reward for when the jar was full!:)
Just this morning when I asked Lauren to take some of her things from the living room upstairs, she said, "I need a break from all this work!" I told her I needed a break from all the work, too and that we would just skip breakfast this morning and we would both have a break. She didn't say another word and took her things on upstairs. So we had breakfast!:) We may have to try this system out soon. Thanks for sharing.
I saw this and have been thinking ab doing it too!! :)
boy they are lucky you bought small jars! I would have gotten huge ones! It is a good idea, Paula does something similar. I need to get organized enough to do something like this.
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