Chores & The Incentive To Get Them Done!!

I have two boys that are completely and utterly addicted to Basketball. Now I must say AGAIN!!!! I do not mind feeding this addiction at all. It's a great, healthy sport that gets my kids off of the couch and outside working out! So, I have devised a plan to get them to help out around the house and to offer immediate, short term and long term incentives.

We have a strict schedule that we adhere to every day. The boys have a morning routine, an after school routine, and a bedtime routine. Each of these routines are made up of four items. For example--the morning routine begins at 8 am with them waking up, making their beds and getting dressed. 8:10 brings breakfast and clean up. 8:20 brings teeth brushed, shoes/coats/backpacks on--and they are out the door for school. Now hidden in this routine is 1 chore. Making their bed. The afternoon has 1 chore hidden in it as well, and so does the evening schedule. Everyday at the end of the day we sit down for family scripture study, family prayer and rewards. The end of the day reward brings the opportunity to choose a pack of basketball cards. If they do all of their routines for the week, they get PS2 on Saturday or some time at a park for some B-ball. If they complete their routines for a month--they get a new jersey of their choice or a new PS2 game.

Well, let me just say...it is amazing! We had a neighbor boy over for an hour after school today. He was busily looking through my boys cards. I mentioned to the boys, that they could earn their cards for the day by getting their routines done. The neighbor immediately piped up wanting to help get the straightening done. Let me tell you-those three boys whipped my living room and kitchen into shape in no time flat! They were rewarded with a pack of basketball cards each. You would have thought it was Christmas. They then spent the next half hour working on trades--too funny! Now my plan is to compensate with incentives for the first month while we are getting the habits into place, and then begin cutting back. Even if they don't let me cut back--my boys will be learning to be upstanding members of their community--and I'm happy to pay any price for that!!