Kid Cash

A few months ago we implemented a sort of reward system for the kids called “Kid Cash”. When the kids do their chores they get a kid cash and if they have ten they get to pick a prize from the treasure box on Saturday afternoon. This has worked out pretty well, although there is a flurry of chores being done on Saturday mornings (you gotta take what you can get I guess). This past Saturday Aiden picked a Spiderman wallet and he was so excited to fill it up with money. I have a mason jar that I put loose change in, and Ashton and Aiden found their own jar and started putting money in it as well. Oddly enough as their jar got fuller, my jar got emptier. After a discussion about not taking things that weren’t theirs we made a deal, and I let them keep some of the change. Back to the treasure box wallet, after Aiden chose it he ran to his room and dumped all of his change into the wallet and proudly showed me how great it was going to be to have a wallet. I told him that it was actually made for dollars, not coins. Seeing the disappointment on his face I suggested that we go to the grocery store and exchange it for dollars. Since they didn’t really earn the money I told them they would have to split the money with Kaylee. The grand total ended up being about $18.00 which was surprising because I took back over half of what they had collected. Now they are all about saving their dollars, but they are more than willing to ask me to spend mine.

Ashton and her friends decided to exchange phone numbers today, which is fine because in my experience when little kids call they talk for two maybe three minutes then it’s over. I obviously underestimated Ashton’s appeal. Her friend Julian called six times today! It makes me wonder if his mom actually knows he is calling.

The other day Kaylee was playing a video game where you have to get a marble through a series of obstacles to get to the goal. It was getting pretty intense for her and she asked Ashton to get her a paper bag to breath into to help her calm down, because that’s what they do on TV. She decided that it did the trick so now she and Ashton run for the paper bags whenever they get a little anxious about anything. I will leave you with a joke Kaylee made up today. What do you call a friendly alligator? A Paligator!