Moola
So we have discovered the most effective parenting tool yet...money. Isaac and Elijah are now old enough to understand that things cost money, better things cost more money, and you get money by working. Sammy is not quite there yet. They each have their own money jar. They get a basic allowance, then can earn more by doing extra things (cleaning up their own room or a mess they made is not "extra").They have yet to turn down an opportunity to make money, even if it means cleaning up the dog poop in the yard. I also like to surprise them with little rewards, such as giving Sammy a nickel when he was the best behaved on our walk.
The flip side is they also have to give money back if they don't listen or misbehave. We call them "fines". If they intentionally wrong a brother, they have to give money to that brother. For instance, the other day Isaac was screeching like crazy, totally wearing on my last nerve. I "fined" him a nickel but also gave him a chance to earn it back by not being loud the rest of the day. It worked. The other day the boys thought it was funny to make our fan make weird noises. I told them if they broke the fan their money would go to replace it. Nobody has touched the fan since. Usually, just a warning of a "fine" works.
Today we heard the ice cream truck coming. They said they would rather save their money.
If your child(ren) are old enough to understand money, I totally recommend using it.
The flip side is they also have to give money back if they don't listen or misbehave. We call them "fines". If they intentionally wrong a brother, they have to give money to that brother. For instance, the other day Isaac was screeching like crazy, totally wearing on my last nerve. I "fined" him a nickel but also gave him a chance to earn it back by not being loud the rest of the day. It worked. The other day the boys thought it was funny to make our fan make weird noises. I told them if they broke the fan their money would go to replace it. Nobody has touched the fan since. Usually, just a warning of a "fine" works.
Today we heard the ice cream truck coming. They said they would rather save their money.
If your child(ren) are old enough to understand money, I totally recommend using it.
posted by Amie at 5:52 PM
7 Comments:
What a great idea, of course I already told you that yesterday.
Haha, it almost makes me want to have kids so I can try it! Almost.
My parents used this technique with us and it worked. We also had a "neggie" jar. Every time we bickered, used negative words, or our words were just nto seasoned with grace, we had to give money to the neggie jar.
That sounds like a wonderful idea! Thanks for the tip:)
Do you remember that Grandma used to pay us for killing bugs?!
Sandy,
I do remember that!
We're not there yet, but I had already planned on doing something like that when they are :)
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