SIMPLIFY!!!
I LOVE that word!!!
because raising a houseful is chaotic, crazy, noisy, extreme... {I could go on and on}
I try to make everything I do, as simple as I possibly can, because quite frankly if it takes too much from Mama Bears time, she's not going to continue it!!! Yeah I'm a simple kind of gal!!!
So our Family Store, and Points System.... we love it, but not how it was running!!!
The family store, was there to simplify the idea of standing in the checkout line with 4+ children waiting for each of them to pay the cashier!!! Well, remembering or trying to stock our family store... wasn't so simple. I also didn't like the fact that most of their hard earned point money was being spent on candy and junk!!! Junk in junk food, and junk in junk toys!!! Which was another aspect I was trying to avoid.
The above picture is how I have simplified our points. With the point system we would cash in our points for family money. Then they could use that family money {play money} for things in our store, or save it, or cash it in for real money. I kept track on a larger wipe off board, and kept daily tallies. NOW we are using a much smaller wipe off board, and I keep a weekly record. So each A has the opportunity to earn up to 220 points a week. The little A's I changed to 110, because they don't have as many responsibilities and such. We just erase the numbers needed to change, and change it. Every Monday I will look at that weekly record, each point is worth a whopping 2 cents! Instead of our family store, I now have a small notepad, and each child has a page. When it's full I'll rip it out and write down their balance there. Every Monday I figure out their weekly earnings. {I don't call it an allowance, I call it earnings, like a pay check} We add that to what they have in their account. Then when we are at the store and they see something they can ask to have something. We discuss it, and if it's something they want and it's okayed I pay for it and then deduct it from their balance in their account. There's no more Mom I want to use my point money, and Mama Bear not knowing if they even have point money. All purchases must be okayed, and I try not to say "no" but if it's a dumb purchase, I simply explain why! You see A4 you already have a pocket size flashlight, must you get another one? Is that a wise purchase? A4 says, yes Mom it is, I lost mine.... Mama Bear then simply explains that just because you purchase another one, doesn't mean you won't loose that one too. It might be a wiser choice to find your lost one, first! A4 then will either decide Mama Bear knows best, or not!!! Luckily my A's still mostly think Papa and Mama Bear are the smartest Bears in all the Woods!!!!!!
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