Once again, I cannot take credit for this! Pinterest is my BFF...
Ever heard of a "Rock Jar"? Well the idea is easy--
Get a bag of dollar store glass rocks/pebbles/round things. The things that go in flower vases as a decoration. And get 2 jars of any size- they must BE CLEAR!
At 2 1/2 years old I started this with my kids. They earn ROCKS for doing good deeds, being overall helpful, doing chores, doing the right thing, and in the beginning- just breathing! Reward the good-all. the. time. Each rock is worth 10 minutes of screen time. They can ONLY give me 6 rocks at most at a time (60 minutes total for TV/Ipad, etc). If they earn a rock (or more) you pull the rocks from your JAR and hand them to your child. Count them out, then they put them in their jar. The psychological part of them earning, holding, counting, and putting the rocks in their jar is KEY!!! (This plays into money making later).
Let me play this out for you and how it got my son to learn to get ready every morning without us asking..
wake up
get dressed = 1 rock
brush teeth= 1 rock
backpack ready and sweater by door = 1 rock
breakfast eaten = 1 rock
all this done by a certain time = 1 bonus rock
gets home- back-pack by door, shoes in bin = 1 rock
total of 6 rocks today= he gets his 1 hour of screen time (after dinner/after homework). After 2 weeks no need to remind my son to get ready... Now my son is 6 and we no longer do the morning rock sequence. He knows what to do and does it! Basically the rock idea is HABIT forming!
As a mom you have to ask yourself---"How much is the task worth to you in screen time"? "What habits do I want to build and is it worth screen time"?
For us it also started the chores...
Laundry away = 3 rocks (30 minutes of screen time and mommy doesn't ever have to put his laundry away ever again-- WORTH IT).
Pick up toy room= 3 rocks
Cleaning his room= 3 rocks
Folding towels = 3 rocks
Helping me clean/vacuum my car = 6 rocks (yup, he is good at vacuuming)
On weekends he could earn way more rocks and give me more than 6 rocks a day. He wanted to watch something educational, I needed to shower and shave my legs--- sure you can give me 6 rocks and leave me alone for an hour!!! (Any mom who is judging me right now needs to stop reading my blogs.. because YES I have taken rocks from my son, opened a bottle of wine and hid in my sitting room.... alone).
Let me tell you how this morphed into chores = money!
At the age of 4 he started to love money. We taught him the value of it and what it means. So I started equating every rock to .25. So a quarter a rock. He then had a choice. Give me rocks for screen time or rocks for money. He quickly learned to cut his rocks in half, give me half for money and save half for screen time on weekends. He realized he could save rocks and have way more iPad time on weekends. The ROCKS taught him how to SAVE and budget!
Now my 6 year old no longer does rocks.. He has the Dave Ramsey envelope wallet and he has 2 lists he MUST complete everyday. His morning chores: get 100% ready, eat breakfast, backpack by backdoor ready- all by 7:15am. If he completes this he gets $1 a day. His evening list: All clothing put away (dirty or clean), room clean, clean the living room (his room he is the steward of), homework done, and teeth brushed. All this done by 8pm... earns another $1. So $2 a day! But now he has to pay for fun stuff- and divide his money into Save, Spend, Invest & Donate. When he wants to go to Skywalk, he has to pay for it. He can earn more than $14 per week if he does extra jobs that I give him. His screen time is less regulated- no iPad on weekdays- and on weekends as long as he has his chores done then he can get the iPad. We of course monitor what he is watching- but honestly StoryBots on Netflix is amazing.
Each year I will add on to his list the day after his birthday, getting older means more responsibility. I dream of the day he is doing all trash, putting dishes away, and mowing the yard.... sigh...
My 2 and a half year old is just starting the rocks. He is less interested in the iPad... but we are slowly starting the rock thing. We catch him being good he gets rocks.. and we have asked for rocks for iPad, but honestly we are inconsistent. I need to pull my husband for a meeting today and talk about the rock jars purpose... so we are on the same page.
Thanks for letting me blog and realize I am sucking at my awesome Rock Jar thing...
Find your JOY,
-Auggie
Ever heard of a "Rock Jar"? Well the idea is easy--
Get a bag of dollar store glass rocks/pebbles/round things. The things that go in flower vases as a decoration. And get 2 jars of any size- they must BE CLEAR!
At 2 1/2 years old I started this with my kids. They earn ROCKS for doing good deeds, being overall helpful, doing chores, doing the right thing, and in the beginning- just breathing! Reward the good-all. the. time. Each rock is worth 10 minutes of screen time. They can ONLY give me 6 rocks at most at a time (60 minutes total for TV/Ipad, etc). If they earn a rock (or more) you pull the rocks from your JAR and hand them to your child. Count them out, then they put them in their jar. The psychological part of them earning, holding, counting, and putting the rocks in their jar is KEY!!! (This plays into money making later).
Let me play this out for you and how it got my son to learn to get ready every morning without us asking..
wake up
get dressed = 1 rock
brush teeth= 1 rock
backpack ready and sweater by door = 1 rock
breakfast eaten = 1 rock
all this done by a certain time = 1 bonus rock
gets home- back-pack by door, shoes in bin = 1 rock
total of 6 rocks today= he gets his 1 hour of screen time (after dinner/after homework). After 2 weeks no need to remind my son to get ready... Now my son is 6 and we no longer do the morning rock sequence. He knows what to do and does it! Basically the rock idea is HABIT forming!
As a mom you have to ask yourself---"How much is the task worth to you in screen time"? "What habits do I want to build and is it worth screen time"?
For us it also started the chores...
Laundry away = 3 rocks (30 minutes of screen time and mommy doesn't ever have to put his laundry away ever again-- WORTH IT).
Pick up toy room= 3 rocks
Cleaning his room= 3 rocks
Folding towels = 3 rocks
Helping me clean/vacuum my car = 6 rocks (yup, he is good at vacuuming)
On weekends he could earn way more rocks and give me more than 6 rocks a day. He wanted to watch something educational, I needed to shower and shave my legs--- sure you can give me 6 rocks and leave me alone for an hour!!! (Any mom who is judging me right now needs to stop reading my blogs.. because YES I have taken rocks from my son, opened a bottle of wine and hid in my sitting room.... alone).
Let me tell you how this morphed into chores = money!
At the age of 4 he started to love money. We taught him the value of it and what it means. So I started equating every rock to .25. So a quarter a rock. He then had a choice. Give me rocks for screen time or rocks for money. He quickly learned to cut his rocks in half, give me half for money and save half for screen time on weekends. He realized he could save rocks and have way more iPad time on weekends. The ROCKS taught him how to SAVE and budget!
Now my 6 year old no longer does rocks.. He has the Dave Ramsey envelope wallet and he has 2 lists he MUST complete everyday. His morning chores: get 100% ready, eat breakfast, backpack by backdoor ready- all by 7:15am. If he completes this he gets $1 a day. His evening list: All clothing put away (dirty or clean), room clean, clean the living room (his room he is the steward of), homework done, and teeth brushed. All this done by 8pm... earns another $1. So $2 a day! But now he has to pay for fun stuff- and divide his money into Save, Spend, Invest & Donate. When he wants to go to Skywalk, he has to pay for it. He can earn more than $14 per week if he does extra jobs that I give him. His screen time is less regulated- no iPad on weekdays- and on weekends as long as he has his chores done then he can get the iPad. We of course monitor what he is watching- but honestly StoryBots on Netflix is amazing.
Each year I will add on to his list the day after his birthday, getting older means more responsibility. I dream of the day he is doing all trash, putting dishes away, and mowing the yard.... sigh...
My 2 and a half year old is just starting the rocks. He is less interested in the iPad... but we are slowly starting the rock thing. We catch him being good he gets rocks.. and we have asked for rocks for iPad, but honestly we are inconsistent. I need to pull my husband for a meeting today and talk about the rock jars purpose... so we are on the same page.
Thanks for letting me blog and realize I am sucking at my awesome Rock Jar thing...
Find your JOY,
-Auggie
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