My Kids Love Doing Their Chores
I have 3 kids, a 4th on the way. Jonathan is 10, Cari is 8 and James is 3. Normally getting ready for bed is like most households. There’s some instructions given and then ignored. Then there’s some voice raising and a little more voice raising until one or two of the kids comply. Then there’s some yelling and some half empty threats and then they are ready for bed. Well, dressed for bed is more like it, they’re ready for rough housing because now everyone is worked up.
Getting them to do chores is completely different. Not in a good way. There’s threats and bribes and many a time there’s punishments. Some times though, the chores get done.
Well it all changed yesterday. I met the guys from Children’s Miracle Music a while ago and have done some marketing consulting for them. It even sounded like a product I would like to try out. So yesterday I got them to give me a copy of the deluxe edition (I’ll not reveal here what I had to do to get it). I brought it home and Cari immediately wanted to see what it was. Was it a movie? Music? A GAME?!?!?
I had to go run an errand with Jonathan and by the time we got home, Cari and James had watched the video instructions and were half way done with a list of chores they needed to finish to get their points before bed time. Jonathan was too tired for that tomfoolery so he went to bed but I sat down with my wife and watched in amazement as James and Cari joyfully got in their pajamas, brushed their teeth and came to the living room for prayer before they got in bed. There was no fighting, no screaming, and no arguing. It was like magic.
Then this morning I woke up with the alarm and figured I would give the AM routine a try. I popped in the CD and sure enough, James and Cari both came running to complete their first of 8 morning chores. Then Jonathan showed up looking quite annoyed. I explained the game to him in short. “That’s stupid” he said. “That’s only for little kids”.
“Well your mom and I are doing it too” I pointed out and showed him how James and Cari were already 4 points ahead of him. Then with a half upset look, he realized that he wanted to win a prize too. Reluctantly he went to make his bed but I could see that it was going to work. 20 minutes later the kids were all done and ready for school. And I didn’t have to do any arm twisting or bribing to get them ready.
Thank you Children’s Miracle Music. I owe you one.
