Little Helping Hands (Part 3)

Annnnnd I'm back! After multiple camping trips, and some Fourth of July fun in the sun, I feel that we have been fully embracing our first summer vacation (first-because my oldest just finished Kindergarten, and before that summer was just a warm continuation of the rest of the year :)

Here is where you can find part one and part two of this series. And now on to the Rewards!!!!!!!!

First I would like to say that I do not feel that children should recieve rewards (money, prizes, toys, candy) for jobs that they should be doing anyway...making the bed, keeping bedroom/playroom tidy, putting laundry away, picking up meal dishes etc.  I have no problem paying kids to do jobs that are above and beyond their normal daily routine.  I know others feel differently about this topic, but that is my opinion for my household.

In other news...WHINING is the bane of my existance!!!!!

While the chores in the first two parts of this series are getting done, it is not whine or nag free. So, I needed a reward system, not for doing the chores, but for doing them whithout a whiny voice and without me (or Dad) having to remind them to stay on track every 30 seconds.  Here is what we came up with:

Tickets!...I bought a roll of raffle tickets at Wal-Mart for $3 (I'm pretty sure there are enough on there to last us through the kids graduating college).  The kids can earn up to two each per day, one for the chore list and one for the bedtime list.  BUT they only get the ticket if they complete the list without whining ever...and without too many reminders from mom and dad (we do give them a couple of freebee reminders, because they are only 3 and 6, and we understand that it is easy to get distracted :). We are VERY strict about any whining=no ticket, and after several months the kids have caught on.

What is so great about a ticket? Well let me tell you!

Family movie night!! About every two weeks, we write a family movie night on the calendar so that the kids can see it.  I purchase or rent a new movie that no one in the family has seen yet.  Then while the kids are doing their bedtime list that evening, Dad and I set up the "movie theater" and "concession stand." The kids must have a certain number of tickets to get into the movie, and then they can use the others to buy concessions (hot chocolate, popcorn, theater syle boxed candies, etc.) They may only purcahse one of each item...and if they don't have enough to buy one of everything then they will just have to work harder for next time.

I was thinking too, that now that it is summer we could offer more than movie night for the tickets...12 tickets for McDonalds instead of homemade sandwiches for picnic at the park? 6 tickets for a popsicle from the popsicle man? Save up and use big time tickets to have a pizza party at our house with school friends?

Best part? you set the prizes and the prices! So only offer what you can handle, and what would seem special to your kids :)

Do you do rewards at home? How do they work? I am always open to new ideas!!

Disclaimer: I did not come up with this idea completely on my own (although I did tweak it from the original), I saw it somwhere on a blog...but now I can't find where I saw it. If you know where it came from please let me know so I can credit the right blog :)