Work for Pay Day

A summer day...raining...no more screen time...bored of building lego...what to do?

Work for Pay Day

I made a list of small jobs on the blackboard. Each job is worth 25 cents. When the kids are bored, looking for something to do, or want to make a bit of money, they can do one. I check for a job well done and they get a quarter. The can do as many as they want, whenever they want, throughout the day. And if they think of their own jobs, I will add them to the list.

Jobs:
Wash one window
Clean one toilet
Clean one mirror
Clean door handles
Wash down front of cupboards in the kitchen
Wipe down kitchen chairs
Vacuum
Fold blankets in bench
Dust piano
Fold laundry
Unload dishwasher
Clean light switches
Recycling
Take out garbage
Sort small basket of Lego

After screens were shut off this morning...I presented the idea, and right away Tyler wanted to clean toilets (can you believe this is his favorite chore?), Zach started on windows and Luke and I did mirrors together.

Later on in the morning, they started quarelling, so instead of a time out, I had them complete one job, without pay. This only happened once, and they caught on.

While Tyler cleaned the door handles, he asked if he could do the closet door handles too...what a sweetheart..I gave him an extra quarter for such a willing attitude.

Later in the afternoon, I offered a trip to the dollar store. I informed them that we would be making a trip to a specific store, and they could spend whatever money made on whatever they wanted. Yep...this doesn't happen very often in our house (usually we have them wait 2 weeks before spending any allowance/money earned..so they can actually think about what they want to buy).

The jobs were done in no time at all, and every one was happy to have the immediate reward. Luke picked a chocolate bar, Tyler picked a nerf gun, and Zach picked cards. Ah...they are so happy. It won't last long, but they are happy right now.

It was a good day, the house is clean, and I hope they learned just how much I actually do around here.