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| Q: | Can you use the one system for more than one child? | | A: | You will need one kit per child! Otherwise, only one child will brush his teeth and only one will make his bed, etc. |
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| | Q: | Do you have chore kits available for kids ages 8-18?! I
have four kids, and the disorganization is making me a crazy woman! I am turning into my mother!! I've tried everything and nothing seems to work for long. Even the kids see I'm a happier person and so are they when the house is clean and organized, yet it never seems to stay that way for more than ten minutes. It's either I find something that will work, live in the insanity or I'm checking myself into a local "funny farm." Help. --Bliss, N.Y.
| | A: | Dear Bliss, I have been there and I feel your pain!! "I Did My Chores!" will help you with the kids between ages 4 to 12. The teen-thing is a different story. An "I Did My Homework!" system is in development to help with the teens, but is not scheduled to be released for almost 8 months! So, meanwhile, make sure that while you are trying to meet everyone else's needs that your own health is not being pushed aside. Be sure to eat 3 meals a day and go for a walk--even if it's only for 10 minutes. When I walk, I listen to praise music or spend some time venting to God. I have found He has mighty big shoulders and cares about every detail of our lives. Tell ya' what--I've been slacking on my morning walk. I'll pledge to walk for 30 days in a row if you will. Deal? |
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| | Q: | I just had to write and let you know that at first my kids were very excited about I DID MY CHORES. But within one month's time my children began to exhibit a "what's in it for me" attitude that had never exisisted before.
Prior to the I DID MY CHORES! system they used to help out around the house with some mild complaints -- but they still helped. After implementing your system we quickly discovered that *nothing* would be completed without payment. That is not the message we want to send our
children. | | A: | Oh, heavens! That is not the message we want to send, either! I cannot thank you enough for writing in. The rule in our house was: You Are Not Allowed To Ask For Tokens. We explained that tokens are *not* something they are entitled to, but something that is privilege to earn. Some things, we simply do because we are contributing members of the family. Period. If they continued to try and manipulate us by refusing to do extra chores without tokens (or they did these particular chores with an uncharitable attitude), they would have to pay a 2-token penalty (or whatever we deemed appropriate). In extreme cases we would have the child complete a full day of the everyday chores without receiving tokens for them. For every chore that was not done joyfully or within a timely manner--they would not only have to still complete that chore, but we would assign an "extra" chore for every incomplete one. They learned right quick what the priorities were--family first, everything else comes after that. Until that was understood, tokens were withheld. |
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| | Q: | Will the chore system work for toddlers - age 3 and up? | | A: | We recommend ages 4 and up because the tokens are small and the little ones might choke on them if they put one in their mouth. If you do decide to try it with your 3 year old, please go buy some poker chips and use those for tokens instead. |
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| | Q: | Our children have decided they don't "need" to brush their teeth
because they already have enough tokens for the day --- how do you deal with that? | | A: | Some chores are not optional (like Brush My Teeth). If our child chose not do a required chore, we still made him do it, but instead of putting that card in the I DID IT! box, we made him hang it on the "Extra" hook and he did not receive a token for it. Once he realized he was going to have to do it one way or the other, he decided it was worth his while to do it on time and earn a token for it. Excellent question. Thanks for asking. |
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| | Q: | I have older kids and think this idea is fabulous, but wonder if this kit will be affective for them. What are some of the pre-printed chores? I want to know if they are too basic for them and whether I will end up printing too many of my own. | | A: | "I Did My Chores!" will work great for kids all the way up to ages 12. There are 49 preprinted chores--way too many to list here. I will highlight a few for you, though. Some of the pre-printed chores we recommend for the red "After School" cards are: Hang Up My Coat, Do My Homework, Put Up My Backpack and Practice My Music. Some of the blue "Nighttime" chores we recommend are: Pick Up My Outside Toys, Read My Book for 15 Minutes, Put My Clothes Away, Set Out My Clothes for Tomorrow, etc. The object is to eliminate as much verbalization/commands from the parent as possible, delegating that "chore" to the monkey on the chore cards! |
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| | Q: | Is the white hook board made of reusable materials like a dry erase board? | | A: | The answer is Yes and No. Yes, the system is reusable--the child uses it over and over and over every single day. No it is not dry erasable--one of our main objectives was to offer a product that the parent did not HAVE to erase and do over! Therefore, once it is assembled and on the wall, the parent is to go sit in their recliner! That is why you need one system per child. |
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| | Q: | How soon will this product start working? | | A: | Immediately! As soon as you assemble it and explain it to your child. HOWEVER ... you MUST read and follow the instructions. I cannot emphasize this enough! |
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