Will work for beans...



Will work for beans...jellybeans that is!

I guess you could say for about the last month I've been gearing up for summer. Trying to figure out how to keep the kids busy but not too busy, keep a routine but not too strict a routine, and still relax and enjoy our time together. I've had this thought swimming around in my head for a few weeks now and just this past Sunday I figured out how it's all gonna work. For some reason I think it's really important my two darlings learn a little responsibility and "earn" the fun stuff we do all summer, and I also want them to remember what we do so on the days they're so bored they think they're going to die we can look back and recall how great a mom I really am. :) So, here's the plan: both kiddos will have a notebook; on the top half of the page (each day) will be a list of chores that must be completed before anything gets turned on ie: t.v., computer, wii, itouch, nintendo (yes I know we have alot of electronic devices.) Anyway, for every chore they complete they earn a jellybean. You also have to understand what drives my children. I could offer to pay them a dollar for every chore and they would just stare at me...but you offer to pay with jellybeans and they are all about it. I do try to keep a tight reign on they're sugar consumption, but they get way more sugar on a daily basis than I would like. At this point, I'm just thinking we're going with whatever motivates them and right now it's Jelly Belly jellybeans.

Back to the notebook; at the end of the day and on the bottom half of the page they will write a three sentence paragraph about what we did that day. (This is the part that will remind them how great I am.) And last but not least they will write one nice thing about the other. K's already said the first thing she's going to write about R is how much she loves him.

So, this notebook will serve at least three purposes: responsibility, gratitude and appreciation for each other; then at the end of August they will both have a pretty neat documentation of their summer.

I'll post a few weeks in and report on how it's going ~ Happy Summer!!