I’m shifting from a dictatorship to a capitalist society, on the home front. Starting yesterday, the boys have a new chore chart with an incentive plan. They’ve had the chore chart for a while, but there were no prizes for completing them, just that they had to do them. I decided to up the ante a bit and take advantage of their competitive streaks.

There are still taxes to pay, as it were (in keeping with any capitalist society)–there are chores that have to be completed, whether a reward is earned or not. The reward comes when the chores are finished without having to be hounded about it. (In other words, they still have to do their daily chores* and practice music, but if I have to remind them over & over, then they don’t get to mark that day as completed.)

Here’s the deal … There is a paper on the fridge with five blank tables (the big three have five daily categories, and the little pair have four), which are labeled as follows:

1. Read for 30 minutes
2. 30 minutes of physical activity (including, but not limited to: bicycling, jogging, trampoline, punching bag and Wii Fit or Wii Sports Resort – such as boxing)
3. Art/craft/QUIET activity for 30 minutes (LEGO blocks count, for instance)
4. Complete daily chores (these rotate each week … more on that in a bit)*
5. Practice music for 30 min (big three – piano &/or guitar)

Here’s a sample table:

Physical activity for 30 minutes:

	Ry	Ri	D	J	A
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat

Each full table is worth $1 (so, up to $5 and $4/week, respectively). That’s a new pack of Pokemon cards in just two weeks! 😉

So far, it is working great, and everyone is stoked about it! In fact, the younger two wanted to bring books in the car on the way to day camp today, so they could add to the 10 min that they read with No. 3 on the couch this morning. Did you catch that? The three of them sat on the couch TOGETHER and didn’t fight. It’s a Christmas miracle.

* The “daily chores” are divided as follows, and they rotate every week:

Younger three:

1)      Feed & water pets
2)      Set table for dinner (which is really just passing out drinks) & sweep floor after dinner
3)      Wipe table after dinner

Older two:

1)      Trash (empty as needed; take to curb on Thursday p.m.) and mail (check & sort mail)
2)      Dishes (help unload & load) and phone (check voicemail; record messages)

Besides helping them learn responsibility, I’m also pleased that they are getting back in the mode of concentration/reading/etc. so that the new school year won’t be such a shock to the summer lazies!