Showing posts with label mothering tip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mothering tip. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Responsibility Chart

So proud of the 21 smiles he earned.

Jonathan's mini chart is on the bottom board.


We've been having some trouble lately with respect, love and kindness in our house. So I was out shopping one day and found this great Responsibility Chart by Melissa & Doug. We had been thinking about creating a type of chart with stickers, but this one is magnetic, which makes it easy to add and remove smiles as needed. And unfortunately, we do lose smiles on certain days.

This chart has been a bigger hit than I anticipated. Andrew wants to please and be good, but sometimes he gets out of control. This chart has served as a good reminder for not only chores, but also manners and behavior issues. We've had to modify the use of some of the pre-made categories, like "Don't use bad words." Not so much an issue, but we don't always use nice or kind words, so that's how we use that one. And "Do Homework" is another category we've modified. Preschoolers don't have homework, but they do need to do their work at school and cooperate. Another small issue we were having a couple weeks ago, which seems to have resolved itself!

We haven't figured out the reward system yet. We plan to keep track of the number of smiles he earns, and he can bank them to buy something big or use a few to buy screen time. The details don't seem to be important to him right now. He's just excited to go over his chart each night after dinner to see how many smiles he's earned. Hopefully this chart will work for a long time until the good behaviors become habit!

And Jonathan didn't want to be left out, so we added a couple categories for him. Unfortunately he hasn't been as motivated to earn smiles as Andrew. He's only earned a couple so far, but we're working on his manners, too!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Mothering Tip #82

Always check to make sure you have your wallet before you go to Target or any other place where credit cards or cash are needed!

Today, I took the boys to Target and they were both angels, so I quickly filled our cart with the necessary items on our list and then browsed happily for about an hour adding other treasures. I go to the checkout, get everything out of the cart, am trying to convince Andrew that his toy needs to stay at Target because it lives there, while digging in the diaper bag for my wallet. Only I can't get the toy away from Andrew and I CAN'T FIND MY WALLET!

After a few moments of panic, I realize I had taken a separate purse to church on Sunday and haven't needed my wallet since, so it's still at home and I have no money to pay for all my treasures. I tell the somewhat-clueless checker that I cannot pay and he needs to stop ringing up my stuff. He tries to be helpful and tells me he can suspend my order while I go home and get my money. I politely inform him that I cannot do this with two small children and will have to come back later much later. I don't think I have been that embarrassed in quite awhile. Not even when Andrew throws a fit in the check-out. But forgetting your wallet?! I think I might be losing my mind. On a positive note - I have never had a cheaper shopping trip to Target and probably never will again!

And you can bet from now on, I will be triple checking the diaper bag to verify I have all the necessary items - especially my wallet!