Monday, October 24, 2011

Call them chores, call them contributions, call them child labor, I call them little victories.

I want to document this for when Jambuca is older.
Now that my e-baby is 5, she is ready and able to take on some new responsibilities. SHe is also really keen on getting to fill out her responsibilities on a chart. I've been thinking that she is about old enough for an allowance, as well. What better way to introduce chores and an allowance than to have them tied together.
I let her decide what her daily chores would be. We settled on: scrape plate/put it in the dishwasher, pick up all the toys before bathtime, and brush teeth. Each day that she does these things, she puts a sticker on that day's square of the weekly sticker chart, and I write the date. As a bonus, she can draw a picture on the square. For each completed 7-day chart, she is entitled to $1 of her allowance. She also has weekly chores, which again she helped set: sweep up crumbs under the dinner chairs 3 times a week, and put away her own laundry. For this, she gets a bonus sticker on the weekly chart, and earns another $1 of her allowance. She has the option of spending her allowance right away, or of saving up sticker charts for a larger sum, for example if she wants a $5 toy (which, right now, she does).
As she gets older and the allowance goes up, so will the responsibilities. And when Jambuca turns 5, he will have the option of earning an allowance as well. Right now, though, he is doing pretty well with putting things away (one or two toys before he gets distracted by something else in the toybox), brushing his teeth, and scraping his plate. He still needs a lot of help, though, and money means nothing to him yet.
Toilets also mean nothing to him. We were all sick last week with strep, and ever since, he has reverted to never using the toilet. We had a good two-week run there, but now it's one backslide after another. Hopefully this will pass along with the illness.
And speaking of illness, I have got to get over this nonstop fever/headache I've been having. It finally got bad enough today that I went to the doctor. They have no idea, but it's probably viral, and I probably need rest. I agree.