MommaCollett: Toot Toot: Parenting Edition

Y'all, I have an almost 10 year old. Look at him washing my car. He's so grown up. He's been begging to do this, by the way. By the time he was 70% done he said he'd never ask to do it again. Well, let's see how bad that sucka wants $3. woot woot!

I know this doesn't mean much for people with children that are already double digits but ... well, I've got nothin' to follow that up with. I've always encouraged Josh to be independant; admittedly for my own selfish gain. Making his own cereal = I get to sleep in late(r).

Well, you give 'em a little independence and then tell them "no" a few times when they ask you to buy him something and ALLofaSUDDEN he wants his owwwn money. Ugh.

This has worked out wonderfully for us anyways, even if I have to sometimes sweep behind him or sneak in his room while he's sleeping and clean his room a little bit closer to my standards. Sidenote: Q suggested that we take a photo of an our-standards-cleaned room to show him what results we expect from "go clean your room." I really need to do that.

Anyways, enter: Chore List. Scratch that; Commission Task List! The new title was courtesy of my wise aunt & uncle; it purveys a sense of duty instead of entitlement that the word "allowance" stinks of.

Here is the one I made on PicMonkey for our household and I've added a link at the bottom for a slightly different blank-with-lines copy you can download, print and use for your house! I put mine in an 8x10 frame and use a dry-erase marker to write in the date & check off completed items.

We're about two weeks into usage and it's been great; he also has a list of morning & evening expectations (also created on PicMonkey!) to keep him on track.