Parenting Wins

So, after 10 years, I am finally starting to figure out this parenting thing a little bit. One of the areas that we have tried and failed a dozen times is how to payour children. Should we give allowance? Should we pay for chores? Should they just have to help because they are part of the family? We have tried so many different ideas, and none of them seemed to work. Organization and consistency have been huge problems in the past.

My philosophy is that children should have the responsibility of handling money. It is a real world skill that will be invaluable to learn as they get older. Earning money affords them the opportunity to learn to pay tithing and understand the blessings that tithing brings. It teaches them to start saving for important things like missions and college. And it teaches them that we all have to make difficult choices about what is most important. So, it was never a question that we needed a way for them to make money. But how?

I have always felt like giving kids an allowance for doing nothing but breathing was counterproductive. What does that teach? That just breathing/existing is reason enough to be paid. That is not the situation they are going to encounter for the rest of their life, so why engrain that idea in them when they are young. That being said, my best laid plans to pay for chores has been thwarted many, many times. To be honest, most of it has been my fault. I haven't had a good system to keep track of what they earn, and every time they ask for a job to earn money, my mind goes completely blank and I have no ideas. It wasn't working, and we got to the point that we actually tried the allowance thing for a while. Finally, we have a come up with a solution that has worked so well. Here are the basics of our Kid's Money Plan for any one who might be struggling like we were.

1. There are a handful of chores that must be done each day simply because the kids are members of our family and need to take responsibility for their own activities and belongings. These include: Cleaning Bedroom, Making Beds, Practicing the Piano, and Completing all Homework. As they get older, these chores may increase or change.

2. After these basic chores are done, the children can do as many chores as they would like for money. I typed up these "Jobs for Pay," laminated them, and put them on a key ring. On each card is the chore, how much it is worth, and all of the specific things that need to be done in order to receive the pay. For example:

Set Table

$0.25/meal

Please set each place with:

Plates or Bowls

Silverware

Cups

Condiments/Needed items

Other jobs for pay include: Clear table, Empty dishwasher, Garbages, Clean Car, Dusting, Sweep/Mop, Clean Bathrooms, Weed flowerbeds, Wash Windows, Etc. 

When the chore is done, the child marks it on their Chart (hanging on the refrigerator) and gets a parent's initials to indicate that the job was done correctly. Their chart includes: Date, Job, Money Owed, Approval, and a box to mark when it has been paid. The child is solely responsible for marking their money on the chart. The beauty of the Pay Chart is that I can pay them when I want to. We usually try to do it on Monday nights during Family Home Evening, but if we miss a week, I still know exactly what needs to still be paid. The kids have the opportunity to make a lot of money if they want to, but since it is optional, they don't feel bitter about doing the jobs. It has worked well for us so far.

One last thing about the money issue. We have also had many debates on how much or how little we control the kid's spending. Do we let them spend their money on "dumb" things and waste it, or Do we tightly control what they can or cannot buy and insist on them saving some? The agreement that we have finally settled on and feel good about is this order:

1. Tithing (10%)
2. Savings (50% of remaining)
3. Free Money

Since we require the kids to save such a large percentage of their money, we allow them to spend their free money on whatever they want (even if they already have more Pokemon cards than they can count :) This keeps them happy because we aren't nagging them about their purchases, and we are happy because we know that they are saving money for later. Again, as they get older, we may need to re-evaluate the percentages, but right now it is working.

PRIMARY PUNCH
In January, I got called to be the first counselor in the Primary Presidency. I was beyond thrilled. That is the calling I had when we moved from Layton, and I loved it! It is my favorite calling of all time. I get the chance to teach every third week, which I adore. I get to be with the children every Sunday and enjoy their Spirits. And I get the camaraderie of working in a presidency with other women.  Anyway, I love doing creative, fun lessons because it helps the kids pay attention and learn so much better. One of my favorite projects that I have ever done was a Primary Punch board. I have seen many different set-ups for this game, but most of them had flaws that bugged me. I wanted it to be easy to set up so that it could be done twice in one Sunday (once for Jr. Sharing Time and again for Sr. Sharing Time). We came up with this board, and I am thrilled with how well it works. I bought some cheap Rubbermaid (semi-disposable) tupperware. I cut out holes for each container and hot glued the rims to the display board. Then I cut large holes in the lids and put the lids on the containers. The lids created the perfect lip that holds the rubberband that I used to attach the tissue paper. The kids punch through the tissue paper, pull out the item inside, and then show it to the class. When all of the holes have been punched, I can quickly put new tissue paper on for the next group. My other favorite thing is the fist, complete with CTR ring, that Jonathon photoshopped for the display board. Awesome!

Although it was made originally for Primary, we have also used it for Family Home Evening with great success. Andrew prepared his own lesson using the Punchboard and was so excited to teach us all. So I consider it a parenting win also!

FORT KIT
Lastly, I wanted to do something fun for the boys for the start of Summer Vacation. I found this fort kit on Pinterest and knew that I wanted to make it for them. Someone made a handy little instruction book that had different projects using PVC pipe. I printed it off and bound it. Jonathon cut all of the PVC pipes into the right lengths, and then I wrapped them in colored duct tape so that each piece was labeled by size. To complete the kit, I sewed up a quick bag to hold everything and added two old sheets that they could put over the top of their forts. They got the hang of building forts very quickly and have built many of them so far. Cheers for Summer fun! Printable instructions found here.