job jar.

i think chores are a really good thing....  

for my darling children.  they don't agree.  

this is our job jar that sits on the kitchen counter and as you can see it is well used.  sometimes they are assigned chores to teach them responsibility and other times because they are being disciplined.

i'm not a child development specialist so i have no idea if using chores as a punishment is helpful or detrimental, but i do know from experience that it works for all of us.  for instance, if they are causing a scene at the grocery store i let them know that they will have to pick a chore when they get home.  if it continues they have to pick two chores and so on.  it took a little while to prove that i was serious and that they would have to complete their jobs, but now they get straight to work.  my favorite part is that i don't have to think up their chore{s} according to age and ability after having to regulate whatever situation required attention.  it's already been done!

i give partial credit for this lovely idea to the book parenting with love and logic: 0 to 6 years and another part to my bff martha stewart.  it was in a MS kids issue years ago.

as always, please share any questions or comments you have!

xo . rae . armommy . vp + mom . rae@armommy.com