Chore Bucket and Marble Jar Genius

I found the idea for a chore bucket on this blog, which I LOVE and have discovered lots of cool ideas on. After the kids have breakfast and get dressed, they get to pick a chore from the bucket. The chores are simple, and don't take too much time. Here are some examples: Sweep front porch and stairs, Put DVD's and videos in their proper cases, Feed and water Lucy, wash the front window, Take out the bathroom garbage, Help Mom change Dennis' water, Practice writing your name 10 times, Straighten the books on your bookshelves, Pull 10 weeds, etc...

Okay, here's what has happened. The kids cannot wait to do chores, and they usually do 3 or 4 every morning, and ask to do more throughout the day. I don't know how long this will last, but they seem to be excited to have some responsibilities, like big kids. Even little Jake loves it. It has been really fun. We have found Bennett doing dishes on his own without being asked twice now. And he does a really good job! This is great! Surely he'll enjoy this throughout his teenage years. Ha! Yeah, right, but still, I'll take what I can get! Even if it just lasts this summer, I'll be happy.

The next thing we are doing is called our Marble Jar. Again, the kids are so excited, they can't stand it! We explained at Family Night last week that we are a team and we have to work together to make home life happy. So we try to catch the boys doing nice things for each other, picking up toys without being asked, playing nicely, listening to instructions the FIRST time rather than the four hundredth, etc. We will tell them to go put a marble in the jar. (I got these at the dollar store.) Sometimes they get a few at a time, and sometimes they even get 5 marbles! We let the boys pick the reward they will get when the jar is full. It had to be a family activity, for the whole team, not an object like a new toy or something. They had great ideas, and for this go-round, we decided on miniature golf as the reward.

I have used this in classroom settings with great success, but had never tried it at home for some reason. Wow. It has made such a difference in our lives! One of the most frustrating times of day for me is bedtime, mainly because Bennett has such a hard time going to sleep. He always cries for someone to lay by him because he's "so lonely." He shares a room with Owen, but Owen falls asleep in about 3 seconds, just like me. Anyway, it's a battle to try to get Bennett to stay in his room at night. That is, until we instituted the marble jar. We offered the incentive of 10 marbles the next morning if he would just stay in his bed. And guess what? He did. No problem. And it hasn't been a problem ever since. SWEET!

Just thought I should share.