Will Work For. . . . .

I saw these t-shirts at shopko a couple weeks ago.  They said, "WILL WORK FOR" and then they had a blank space.  They came with a dry erase marker so you could fill in what you were willing to work for.  I resisted the impulse to buy them (if they had come in green, red, yellow, and purple I would have been sunk) but since then I have been thinking. 
The past few days months years we've had an especially hard time motivating our boys to work. I'd like to say that it's a roller coaster and it goes up and down--but it's not.  It's more of a really, really, really flat road that has a tiny speed bump where you bounce up every once in a while. It doesn't appear that we're anywhere near an incline, either.   Almost daily, I'm delivering the "why you have to help" speech to at least one boy.  I'm sick of hearing it. How can they not be sick of hearing it?  The only consistent motivation we've found is rewards. They're not bribes.  When I was a teenager, my Sunday School teacher informed me that a bribe is given before the desired behavior, and a reward is given after. He was known to give both.  But in my case, we're dealing strictly mostly with rewards.   So here's what I've decided motivates our boys.



Joseph:   Will work for TRASH. Joseph likes to build things--robots, mannequins, miniature cities, various motorized vehicle like items.  You name it.  Last night I got a half hour of cheerful labor for an empty Litehouse Dressing jar.  Oh, and another half hour for a milk carton.  He is also willing to help for the promise that something won't become trash.  No! I'm not threatening him! He gets in trouble for removing things from the trash without permission--so it's more of a preventative measure.  I think.


Gideon: Will work for TOYS or MOVIE MINUTES.  Gideon loves little toys--like Playmobil and Lego sets.  He will cheerfully work for a week to earn a special toy.  This has been nice when trying to help him work on curbing some undesirable behaviors :-)  He also loves to watch movies--probably more than the other boys--except Malachi of course.


Samuel: Will work for CANDY.  Samuel still likes candy entirely too much for his own good.  After Halloween, he took 20 tootsie rolls, heated them up, and rolled them into a giant tootsie roll ball. I heard him gleefully exclaim, "This is the biggest tootsie I've ever had!" It lasted a couple days.  He doesn't know I finally tossed it.  I can get Samuel to do any  job for candy. The best way is to line up skittles or m&ms or smarties and give him one for every 10 jobs.  It's also a great way to teach math, right? 

Malachi: Will work for a BATH.  On a regular basis, I'm hearing, "mommy, tan I please take a bath?"  Seriously.  Two or three times a day.  I wouldn't mind so much, except that he seems to be developing some eczema and I thought frequent bathing made it worse?  But yesterday, I did get all sorts of help in return for the privilege of a bath.  I should also mention that Malachi is a bit addicted to Shaun the Sheep. Not enough to work for it, though.

Elias: Will work.  He is my best helper!  He loves to do anything that mommy or daddy is doing.  If I get the mop or broom out, I have to get one out for him.  And don't you dare try to clean a toilet without him!  Sewing is his specialty. I love this stage--it is absolutely exhausting to keep up with all his helping, but he's the most cheerful, willing one I have.   Now why is that? What are we doing wrong? How come all my kids want to help until they are four or five?  Hmmmmm.  Thoughts?

In the meantime, I'll just keep the other rewards in stock. You know, I really can't say I blame them.  This is how I feel about mopping the floor: