Well, here we are with spring upon us.  My son is enjoying his break from school (is second grade almost over already?!?!) and, though I have mentioned it several times already, is ignoring the chores that have been set aside for this time.  With the enthusiasm of his age, he has promised to do all manner of jobs in order to have more money and freedoms… but when the time comes, chooses to exercise his reward from yesterday and play on the Xbox instead.  At some point he will have passed many levels, defeated many foes, and racked up lots of points, but will have no time to get all his chores done for the day – and not get the other privileges he wants.

He has also been asking about making changes to his chore chart.  He’s a big kid of seven now, and wants to buy himself a Nintendo DS.  Most of my family lives in another part of the state we live in.  Too far away to visit often, so when it comes time for presents, they usually send a check to buy a toy.  My son is lucky, and has lots of toys – so when he begged to have a DS (and was very disappointed that Santa had not brought one), I suggested that he save the money he gets from family for his birthday, Christmas, and other holidays.

At the beginning of last year, we marched into the bank with checks in hand.  We got him started with a “Youth Goal Savings Account,” and deposited his Christmas hoard.  He is now quite proud that he has over $100 in his account.  We are going to adjust his chore chart to tasks appropriate for him (upon negotiation and agreement by both parties, of course) and come up with a fair amount of money each task is worth.

When we first started making a chore chart, I made a template on the computer, and we have been refining it ever since.  Since he was only four when we started, we had items on there like: Get dressed in morning, Brush teeth, Put pajamas on.  There were actual chores on there, however.  Feeding the dog, sweeping, dusting, and picking up his toys, have all been part of his weekly responsibilities.  Since I print out a new sheet every week, we let him mark his own progress.  If he does a chore without being asked, he can put a star in that box; if we have to remind him, but it gets done, then he can put a check.

At the end of the week, we would count up all the checks and star and decide on a reward.  A new toy, a trip to the ice cream shop or Chuck E. Cheese, seeing a new movie or something along these lines.

I’m thinking that for the more difficult tasks, I will offer fifty cents for completing the task without being asked, twenty-five for reminders.  A quarter for simpler tasks and ten for reminders.  This way, he can still have the same type of system, but also the money that he so desperately wants.  I also appreciate the fact that we make him a part of the process by deciding together what chores he can accomplish and that he can see how much, or how little, effort he has put forth.