My Good Idea

I may have mentioned this before, but I always want to send my good ideas to Family Fun magazine.  They have a whole section called "My Great Idea!"  I'm sure the get hundreds of submissions and I would just be lost in the crowd.  So, I thought I'd go see my editor at blogspot and see what she says.  She says, "Let's hear it!"

Ok, if the whole truth were know, the genesis of this idea actually came from Family Fun.  But I have given it my own special Tonia touch.  

I know my kids are not the only ones who aren't too crazy about doing chores and cleaning the house.  We have a game that we use whenever I want to get a sustained amount of work out of them.  It doesn't work if you use it for everyday work, but if you've been busy and the clutter has just piled up around your house, this is just the thing.

I write different jobs that I want done on slips of paper.  I write, "clean your sink," "put away 5 things from a kitchen counter," "hang up the coats," "organize the CDs," whatever needs to be done. I also take big jobs, like clean the playroom, and break them into smaller pieces.  I might say, "pick up the baby doll clothes," or "pick out ten things made from paper that are on the playroom floor."  

I make two piles of jobs.  One pile is for the eight and ten year old to draw from and one is for the four year old. I expect harder work out of the older two.  To these piles I also add about six "fun" slips.  These are things like, "eat a piece of candy," "kiss your mother,"  "sing Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang,"  "go outside and turn somersaults on the front lawn," etc.  I also put in a slip that says, "Kid's choice," and they look around the house for a job that needs to be done and then do it.  I also have a discard box to put the slips in after they've drawn them.  

The last thing I make is a "penalty box."  I put jobs in there that don't really have to be done, or jobs that I would ordinarily do myself.  

Now the kids draw out slips of paper and do whatever the job is.  The older two kids take turns drawing out the paper, but then they both do whatever is written on it.  Abby just works away by herself.  Usually if they draw a fun slip first or right after they've done one, I tell them to wait two jobs and then draw again.  If there is whining, fighting or if the slips are left laying around, then they have to draw from the penalty box.   

The beauty of the game is that I stay in control of the work, but the kids feel like they are in control or at least Luck is in control.  I'm not standing over them saying, "Do this, pick up that, get a move on!"  I do have to also be working in some of the same areas where they are working. They like to feel like we're all working together. Paying the bills, or doing work on my computer does not look like work to them and they slack off!  They also need to have their work inspected frequently.  We don't always have the same mental picture of what the completed job looks like.  

If you're willing to be working along side them, I think this game is good for ages three and up.  It's at least good through age 10.  I'll let you know in a few years when it doesn't work anymore!