Supermom, Where Are You?

Kids. Jobs. The two just don't mingle well. Thanks to Ashley's friend's mom, we put together a great incentive system this summer, and my kids "earned" their way to Sea World. This is our little friend, the West Family Super Buck.

$ 1 West Super Bucks $1

$1 West Family Bank $1

My kids earned them for completing their responsibilities, like jobs, practicing, and so forth. If we were going somewhere like the zoo or a museum, they could go if they had the before-determined admission "price." They also had to earn the extension cord that makes the TV magically work, short stints on the computer, and so forth (I made library visits "cheaper" than the TV and computer--ha ha!). And if they made us late for ballet lessons, were mean, or other infractions, they had to pay. Granted, once we got home from San Diego, it was a little harder to motivate them, but it still worked pretty well. Then school started.

Ah, school. We love you and we hate you. You take our children for 3-6 hours a day so our homes aren't as messy and full of fighting, bored children. You provide educational, enriching experiences for our children that light up their faces and eyes. You also send home piles of papers and make us run around like chickens with our heads cut off as we try to cram in lessons, homework, dinner, practices, visits to the library, and shopping for something we have to have for school after school gets out. You make kindergarten so short that you can hardly get anything done before you have to go back to the school to pick up the kindergartner. You also disrupt our chore schedule! After school started, our routines went caput. (Yes, I should have seen it coming, but it is hard for me to put a schedule together until routines are set at school.) After getting Ashley's class volunteers coordinated and that schedule in place, I turned around and realized that my house had fallen apart and nobody was doing their chores. And I was getting grumpier by the day trying to keep up with the housework, little people, meals, and getting people here and there.

I decided to nip that problem in the bud. I took control. I marched down to the computer and Googled family calendars, schedules, and systems. I printed off chore lists so we could all decide together what system would work best now that we have additional things to accomplish. The next morning, I sat the kids down and had them tell me what they needed to do each day, and discussed with them how we'd distribute the work best. We put together a little schedule. It was awesome!

So how are we doing? Well, the chart containing this wonderful little schedule is still residing in my planner, yet to see the light of day on a beautiful poster. And the lists and research I printed off? I woke up this morning and said to myself, "Now, where did I put that stuff? I need to add it to my Home Organization (smirk) Binder!" Alas, I just found it--on the computer desk, buried under a pile of bills and mail. Well, at least I found it. Maybe by next week we'll have things together. I hope. Until then, we'll just keep moving in baby steps, like it seems we have to do around here all the time. Everything goes in baby steps. But that's OK. Because I know I'll miss all the reasons we have to move in baby steps when they grow up!!