There are a few different steps to Mommy Dollars and starting it with your children, the first is fun for you! Find a picture of yourself and using some type of paint program or photo shop, cut just your head out of the picture. Now go online and google the dollar bill, or if you prefer, google Monopoly money. Download it to your computer. Now replace the president’s face with your own. Then all you need to do is print out your “money”! I suggest about 100 dollars per child at minimum. These bills can be smaller than a regular dollar, mine are!
Your second assignment should you choose to accept it, is to open a “virtual” Mommy store (or Daddy). Open a word document on your computer, or you can download my Mommy store paperwork at the bottom of this post. Now type or write out things that you are willing to “give” or “pay” your children for the Mommy Dollars that they “earn”. For instance, for 5 Mommy dollars you will buy them a candy bar. For 10 Mommy dollars you will play catch with them for 30 minutes. For 20 Mommy dollars you will allow them to stay up for an additional 30 minutes. I tend to save bigger stuff for bigger money, like for 100 Mommy Dollars we go out to eat. You can use anything you want to put for sale in your “Mommy Store”. You know what’s important to your children better than I do. After you’ve finished loading your Mommy Store with items, print it out so that you can hang it up when you start this.
Next you need to decide on “jobs” or chores you want them to do. The first job of the day is to be ready for school on time. So, you place three Mommy dollars in an envelope for each child with their name on it. You place these envelopes on the dining or kitchen table every morning when they get out of bed and take them away if they are still sitting there one half hour before they leave for school. What they have to do to open the envelope is get dressed, brush their teeth and eat their breakfast all before one half hour before they leave for school. If they do that then they get to take the envelope, if they don’t, you get to take it. Now my sister doesn’t agree that they should get “paid” to get dressed and eat, but it gives them incentive to get it done and quickly which makes everyone’s morning go nicely. The rest of the jobs are up to you to decide on.
The next thing you need to do is decide how much each job is worth. Doing the dishes… 5 dollars. Emptying the dishwasher… 3 dollars. Be fair. Don’t over give, but don’t under give either. Document how much each job is worth. Print that out.
The last thing you have to do is give them the “talk”. You call a family meeting and explain how everything works. Tell them that they will get “paid” in Mommy Dollars for each job that they complete that’s on their list. Explain that they wont get paid if they don’t do their jobs. Show them your “Mommy” store. Let them see what their work is worth. Tell them when it’s going to start.
I think the hardest thing to do is not giving them things that are in the Mommy store when they don’t do the work. I’m a softie, which isn’t always good when you want your kids to do something. The key is to remember that they are getting rewarded in some way for their work. If they don’t, they will after seeing their siblings getting all the goods. If they are an only child, I’m thinking (not sure though) that they will start helping out for one of two reasons, number one, they want to please you. Number two that they will see that they aren’t getting any treats for free anymore.
There are rules to go by, only three.
The rules are:
1) They don’t have to do anything at all. When they do something, they are paid with Mommy Dollars, when they do nothing, they get nothing.
2) They work Monday - Saturday with Sunday off for good behavior. Not really, they get Sunday off because all people get a day off from work. You can include Saturday off if you like, its all up to you.
3) Its important in the beginning to addict them to this Mommy Dollars “work”, excite them about it, get them really into it. The more into it they get, the more they do. Also if you have multiple children and one of them doesn’t want to “play” in the beginning, they will in time once they see all the benefits that their siblings are receiving. This means giving them “extra” jobs like getting you a drink, putting the toilet seat down, hanging up their coats. Give them a M.D. for these little jobs that aren’t on their schedule. This shows them that you appreciate their hard work, then they are willing to give you more.
Some people will disagree with this entire article because its basically bribing our children. Some people will see the good in it and try it. I have three sons that normally aren’t willing to help much unless I give a huge lecture or yell, this worked for my household. They do their jobs, they get rewarded, everyone’s happy.
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