::charts::

Max gets a chore chart every week. OK, so it's not every single week, but it's supposed to be. Sometimes I forget. And though he gets paid for the completed chart he doesn't seem to remember to remind me.....Anyway, he gets a chart. His chores are as follows:
Feed Sultan
Wash Hands (a result of the swine flu scare)
Brush Teeth
Clean Room
Let Sultan in and out
Dishwasher Help (putting away the silverware)
Practice Guitar
Clean up outside/inside toys
Pretty good list, right? He's the kind of guy that needs things to do, and although he doesn't like it when I make him do it, he does like marking the chart and does like earning a little cash.

Last week after I made his chart he sat down and made me a chart. I was very interested to see what my chart would say.

The tasks are in code. I had to write them down so I could remember what it was I was supposed to be doing. So here they are:
CR = Clean Room
D = Dishwasher (specifically everything Max doesn't do--he mentioned that specially)
W = Wash Hands
Fe Us = Feed Us (I like this one--so clear and concise)
B = ?? (he couldn't remember what that one was--very mysterious)
ST = Give Sultan Treats (lucky Sul)
WD = Wash Dishes (woo hoo, lucky me)
W CL = Wash Clothes

Sounds about right, doesn't it? Not much is left off there. I did a pretty good job with my chart this week. He reminded me to check my tasks off quite a few times.

He has a new chart along with his chores this week. It's a special anti-finger-chewing tactic. He gets two mess ups every day until friday. If he can make it until friday he gets some new legos. I hope it works because I'm tired of seeing him gnaw his little nails down to the quick.

::prizes::

The first chore prize that Max got was rollerblades!
We really wanted to get him some anyway, now that we're someplace he could actually use them more. He had also run across my old pair before we moved, and insisted on bumbling around the house in them, until that was outlawed.

So the chore chart was just a good excuse to get the man a pair of blades! I found a great huge 2nd hand sporting good store out here and picked up a small pair. They're cool because they adjust about 3 sizes. So he should be able to wear them for a while. If, that is, he can ever figure out how to actually skate.






He spends most of the time like this:

We had to watch him a lot at first and make sure he didn't bash his face in--we know all about that kind of thing. But he's gotten a little better since.

But I would recommend against rollerblading around a hyped up crazy dog who's running circles.





Ahhh! Moon Bear attack!!!

When he lived through the Sultan attack I knew he was going to figure out these blades eventually. Luckily he has all summer to do it!

I just wish I could figure out some way to harness the energy of the boy and the dog and put it to good use-like generating electricity or something. Or if I could just borrow some of it for exercising with.

::chores::

For the last long time I've been thinking that it would be a good idea to formalize Max's chores. He didn't have many. Basically we had him feeding the dog and that was about it. We were supposed to be paying him a quarter every time he did it, but often I would forget to pay him and he'd forget to remind me. So then after weeks he'd be like "HEY! Where are all my quarters?"
And the only thing he could really do with his quarters was buy gum or something like that. He didn't really make enough to ever save for something more substantial, which I think was a little frustrating.

So. Not to ramble any more, but since we're in our new place, finally pretty settled in, we thought it was time to come up with a better system.
We assigned him five chores to start with, and I made a chart for the week. If he finished all his chores every day that week he gets a prize. Some of the prizes are small, some big. Mostly they're just stuff I would've gotten for him anyway. This week we used our family outing to see UP as his prize for last week. That worked out well.

He's been doing great! I think it helps to have the visual representation of his progress right there on the fridge, and the prize is really motivating.

And next post I'll tell you all about his first prize, it was very exciting.

Any suggestions of other chores we could add onto his chart? It's hard for me to think of things he can do that don't just end up slowing me down. Give me some ideas!