Mornings were running pretty smoothly at our house for about two months. Then, slowly but surely I found myself getting frustrated with my kids because they were not doing what they were "supposed" to do. Some mild yelling may have been involved. For me, when this happens, it usually means something needs to change. I decided to switch up our routine system in hope for some refreshed self-motivation. We switched from earning tickets to be used at the family store( which you can read about here) to earning Santa Bucks to be used to by a present for another person. However, as much as I want my children to be motivated purely by the desire to help another person, most kids aren't wired that way. We made a deal with the kids that for every two Santa Bucks they earn for someone else, they can earn one for themselves as well. My kids decided that they would pool all of their "personal" Santa Bucks to buy a pet (an idea that I hope fades as time passes).
I was really excited about the idea of Santa Bucks and helping my kids get excited about giving with money they "earned." It is a tradition we will continue until they get old enough to actually earn their own money. However, it being the first run through, it is not without it's kinks. In our previous routine system, we used a weekly chart. I wanted to try something different, so I created a "timecard" of sorts. Each child got a clipboard with slips of paper with their personalized daily routine.
At the end of the day, they cross off what they did and record the number of Santa Bucks they earned. I keep a shoe box outside my bedroom door where they deposit their slips. I then put the corresponding number of Santa Bucks in an envelope that I am keeping until the "cash out" day.
In my brain, this system worked much better than it does in reality. Keeping track of each child's slips of paper isn't top priority in a busy mom's life. Nor is ensuring that the slips of paper actually get in the box and the Santa Bucks get into the correct envelopes. I will be putting some thought into how to make it a little easier on all of us... charts are probably the way to go. For those of you wanting to try using Santa Bucks, I would love to hear how you implement it! Thriving moms don't get everything perfect or get everything to run smoothly. We just try and try again.
Add paragraph text here.
