Cleaning your house guilt free

by ReneeM
(IN)

Doctors and other people say that children should be taught responsibility and one way is through giving them chores. My oldest step-son loved getting stickers then a reward. My youngest son is 11 and going through "the" phase of life. He doesn't care about stickers. He doesn't have the patience to wait a week or more for a reward. So, I've come up with a "Punch Card" system. The punch cards are about 3x5" with boxing gloves. Whenever he completes a chore it's his responsibility to bring me his card (much like a stores reward cards) and I punch it. Now he's excited about getting punches because of the rewards. For every punch he can turn in his punch for 15 minutes of video game time. He can turn his punches in for a toy (I have a sack of toys he wants). He can save his punches for bigger items he wants such as going to the movies. I have one child and it works for him, but what to do if you are a mom with more children? I was thinking that everyone could be assigned a chore or pull chores out of a hat and "BLAST OFF!". The object could be to see who can get their chores done the fastest and done correctly. As the mom, I have done the chores that have harsh chemicals. OR if you have a child who doesn't complete his chores, you could help him/her. Really you would be teaching him/her how to complete the chore correctly. Hope these 2 ideas can help a mom out there!