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mooreboyz
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| Posted: June 09 2009 at 8:09am | IP Logged
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I'm looking for little (inexpensive) rewards for a job well done (for household type work not school) that doesn't involve sweets or junky plastic toys. I always tend to reward with sweets, but everyone has been a little (ok a lot!) squirrelly lately and I'm trying to cut out a lot of the sweets.
Thanks!
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Jackie
7 boys - 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 15, 17 years
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annabelle125
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| Posted: June 09 2009 at 9:04am | IP Logged
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Mine are 7 and 5 and we use money. Not alot, like 10 to 25 cents per chore (DH is out of work right now so money is tight). But they can earn $2 a week for jobs well done.
They also have jobs they are expected to do just because they live here. If those jobs don't get done properly, their "pay" gets "docked".
Just make sure the lists of paid chores, "just because" jobs, money paid and penalties is clearly written-- we post ours on the refrigerator.
Anne
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Mimip
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| Posted: June 09 2009 at 11:37am | IP Logged
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Playmobiles are great for boys. They can work on it for a week (ex: earning tickets) and then"buy" them from your store (maybe in a chest or pantry).
Worked for us in the past and then you don't have junky toys to get rid of later 
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In Christ,
Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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CandaceC
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| Posted: June 09 2009 at 2:42pm | IP Logged
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I've been working on this the past few months too. We are trying to avoid sugar and I've been trying to think of rewards that involve candy!
Here's what is on our reward chart, our kids get to choose 1 at the end of the day if they have completed their chores.
*stay up 30 minutes late
*play a game with mommy/daddy
*play computer game for 30 minutes
*paint fingernails/toenails with mommy (girls, obviously, LOL!)
*skip 1 subject in school the next day
*1 lollipop (I ordered some organic ones that I don't feel badly about them having, so they can at least have treats and such when kids from church hand out candy, etc)
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Candace - wife to David since 2000...mommy to Hannah (Feb. 2002), Emily (April 2003) and Caleb (March 2005)
His Mercy Is New
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Marcia
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| Posted: June 09 2009 at 6:50pm | IP Logged
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I personally try to adhere to Alfie Kohn's ideas. :)
:(
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mooreboyz
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| Posted: June 10 2009 at 5:50am | IP Logged
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Ok, I agree a lot with what Kohn says. I do believe rewards do not inspire and motivate children in the long run. What I'm talking about is this for example:
The boys have been outside all day shoveling dirt into a wheelbarrow and hauling it to raised beds Dad built. They have been really working hard and my normal response is to tell them how awesome they worked and give them a bowl of ice cream (which is considered special here). The thing is we've been all working really hard like this for about a month (since we moved to the country) and the sweets are getting dished out too frequently and I'm paying for it with bouncing off the wall sugar highs lately. My dh likes to give them time on the wii, but I end up with fighting kids and zombies when he does this. So, I'm looking for other ideas for when the kids do some really hard work. We played cards the other night and that was nice...need some other ideas though.
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Jackie
7 boys - 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 15, 17 years
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Lara Sauer
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| Posted: June 10 2009 at 9:48am | IP Logged
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When my sister's children were small, she and her husband had a big pickle jar on their refrigerator that they called the "HAPPY DAY JAR!" They would throw in their extra coins and dollar bills and when they had accrued enough money, they would take the kids somewhere special...maybe for putt-putt golf, or out for burgers or ice-cream.
Anyway, I was thinking maybe you could adapt this idea to your needs. Perhaps each child could "accrue" a certain number of hours spent working...for each hour that they spend, you could put in a chip (or some other counter...like beans) and when you have accrued, say 10 hours the family could turn it in for a "movie night." Or they could continue to "save" it until they had accrued 25 hours and turn those in for, say, lunch at restaurant...or they could "save" it until they had ... number of hours and do something really special.
I think you get my idea. This would give the kids an understanding that work is worthwhile, but it would also teach them to delay their gratification and help them to work together as a team.
As a matter of fact, I would include them in working up some ideas for rewards...and the number of hours they would need to accrue for each "treat".
Each kid could have their own jar...or you could simply have a family jar.
Hope that helps.
Peace to your day!
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You can take the girl out of Wisconsin, but you can't take the Wisconsin out of the girl!
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helene
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I reward jobs with computer time. It's very motivating because their time on the computer is quite restricted.
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Happy Mom to five girls (20,17,13,11and 4) and five boys (19, 15, 10, 8 and 6)
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Gloria JMJ
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| Posted: June 11 2009 at 9:53am | IP Logged
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When my boys are working hard for me and Dh in the yard, I make them nutritious smoothies and granola. It not only is a treat, but it's a refreshing snack that keeps them going and makes the work more pleasent. And I also restrict computer/tv time, so they earnmore of that when they do anything for me outside of their normal chores.
Smoothie~
3 bananas
1 double handful berries
enough apple juice to blend
1Tbsp green powder or protine powder
Blend on high till smooth adding more juice if needed.
Simple yet rewarding!
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: rewards
