It is the first day of summer vacation, and we all know what that means: bored kids who want to do nothing but watch tv and fight with each other.
Most summers I have made the kids do chores in the morning and some type of homework after lunch and then they could be free. I know I sound like a drill sergeant, but I honestly can't take the chaos.
I don't know where I got the marble jar idea, but I know many people who do some version of it. I made a list of jobs from easy like emptying the dishwasher or trash when it isn't your turn (1 marble) to hard like mow the lawn (6 marbles). The kids have to work until lunch at earning marbles. How hard they work = how much they get paid. To avoid cheating (not that my kids are sneaky.....) I let them each pick out a color of marbles. Fred has pink, Bub has red, and G has blue.
When the jar is full, the kids each get a choice of rewards: $10, a $15 itunes card, or a one-on-one "date" with The Dad or me. No one took the date last summer, which kind of hurt my feelings, but that's another story. I guess money talks.
Quite frankly, the marble jars saved our summer. My house was clean, the fighting was cut back, and the kids could see the relationship between work and pay.
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