Yesterday my 8 yr old son broke the glass in the front door of our house. He threw a golf ball at it. For reasons that are only known to an 8 yr old and defy any sort of adult reason or logic.
The glass needs to be replaced and is expensive. Just how expensive I don’t know yet, but I am willing to bet it is more than a little boy can pay for out of his allowance. So he will be doing extra chores to “earn money” to pay for the glass. I am trying to come up with extra chores, ones that don’t already belong to anyone else.
So far I have:
- Sweep the foyer every evening
- Put shoes away in shoe basket
- Sweep front steps
- Vacuum the downstairs living area rug
- Tidy up downstairs living area (toys away, books away, replace throw pillows to couches)
These are all things that I do on a daily basis. I know that there must be some other chores I can have him do, but I can’t think of any!
I am also trying to decide how I am going to assign the chores a monetary value. Or if I am going to assign one. I am a little conflicted about this one. I will update you all as I decide.
Has anyone else done something similar with their children?
I was never blessed with children but my two favorite oldest nephews did laundry (Mom sorted, they started with sheets & towels, graduated to underwear), the one who is now a pilot took over cleaning the bathrooms for $ when he was 12 or 13 (and my sister says he did a better job than she did). I’m sure that at 8 he would be able to vacuum the car and wash the car windows – the house windows, too. I have no idea what the going rate for a baby-sitter is in your area, but maybe you could come up with an hourly rate and assign values that way.
Comment by Kathy from NJ — March 27, 2009 @ 12:39 pm
Hmm…if I were you, this might be the time my base boards were cleaned.
Seriously, he is smaller and closer to the floor and he can do it with water and vinegar…totally harmless.
Comment by jennifer ozuna — March 27, 2009 @ 1:18 pm
I have had my children do similar things in the past, and have actually used the same method! I also had him do some things for his grandparents and aunts. Since my brother in law is a carpenter, he also helped with the replacement. He helped build flower beds and rake the yard, as well as go with me to price the windows. He got a real eye opener when he saw how much those things are!
Good Luck, and I hope he learns more than – dont do that again.
Comment by Claire — March 27, 2009 @ 2:18 pm
He’s probably old enough to do laundry, you could start with sheets & towels, then graduate to underwear. How about vacuuming the car & washing the car windows? I’m sure he’d be able to wash the windows inside the house, too. You could calculate a rate based on the amount a baby-sitter would charge per hour.
Comment by Kathy from NJ — March 27, 2009 @ 6:49 pm
I actually have done the same thing with my 6 year old. The only difference, he got sent to his room for time out, instead of just taking his time out for a few minutes so he could calm himself down, he thought he was going to climb out the window! Our windows are the older kind on ropes but they were cut before we moved here so they have to be proped open, as you can guess, the window slammed shut after a minute or two and broke. I was so thankful he wasnt hurt, but I am guessing it slammed shut after he was already out of his time out because he never said a word and usually things like that will scare him enough. However, windows are not the cheapest thing to replace so he has been helping with laundry as one other suggested, and vaccuuming with our little re-chargeable vaccuum, also making sure the dogs get fed, putting away groceries, and clearing table after dinner among other things.
Comment by Angela — March 30, 2009 @ 9:31 am
Not a chore, but maybe writing lines about thinking before throwing? I didn’t have to write lines often but the few I did made a long impression on me.
Chores could be cleaning out the van including vaccuming, laundry, tard work/clean up (raking and bagging leaves or grass clippings).
Comment by wookie — April 2, 2009 @ 2:52 pm
Well, I would have to say with it being spring time, Cleaning out the car, Pulling the new weeds that are coming up. Sweeping and Vac the carpet. Clean out the litter box ( cats ) feed the animals. Load and Unload the dishwasher. Take out the trash. Bring in the mail. Dust. These are things I have had my 11 year old do since she was 8ish. I know it sounds like a lot.. .but really if you space them out.. it is really not to bad. She does the cats box and also the dishwasher everyday. The other things are random. I also use this if she wants off grounding… She has to earn it back. Works great. And takes less off me!
Comment by Shannon — April 9, 2009 @ 5:23 pm
My daughter hung onto the strip at the bottom of the garage door and proceeded to pull it all the way off. She was six and apparently thought it was a good idea at the time! We not only had her do extra chores as a consequence but also had her go with to the store to get the supplies to fix it and sit in the garage while it was being fixed to show her the time and energy needed to replace it. Hopefully she learned a lesson, I suppose we won’t know until she is not hanging from garage door strips anymore!
Comment by Anna — May 29, 2009 @ 2:31 pm
i had the same problem with my 12 year old. she was playing criket in the garden against our door and the ball hit the toilet window. i was furious and i found out that the best way to punish them is to be old fashioned and smack them either with your hand or a belt depending on the serenity. many of you would not dream of doing this however learning from experience i have found this to be the best way.
when my 12 year old smashed the window i sent her to her room for a time out unitl her father came home and upon his return i told him of the event and he promptly went upstaries and gave hera good smack on her bottom. for the following days i got her to scrub the patio floor miss her friends parties, she wasnt aloud on the computer or to watch tv. she also had to tidy all the bedrooms and bathrooms clean the dishes by hand and everyday at the end of the day her father and myself would inspect her work and se if it was up to the standard we expected…if not she would have to re-do it and a punishment would be in order such as waking up early and watering the plants inside and out the house and other chorses that are worse than normal. if the workdone was horriffic or she does three poor jobs then another smack would be in order.
i do strongly sugest you follow my advice as i have had lots of experience with children and find this is the best way. my daughter was certainly not playing cricket against the wall near a window soon! please let me hear your comeents on my advice, they would very much be apreciated
thanks audry
Comment by Audry — July 27, 2009 @ 4:09 pm
Audrey:
You may have lots of experience but I think that your punishment was overkill and missed the point. Discipline should be a learning experience and punishment just teaches kids to be sneaky and to resent parents. Since she broke the window – she should have had to earned the money to replace the window my doing chores for you and maybe even other people. If sounds like the breaking of the window was an accident and that she didnèt do it deliberately. Playing crocket next to the window was a poor choice but it sounds like you are treating her like it was malicious and deviant behaviour. Punishment demeans children. Discipline teaches kids to respect themselves and their parents rules. It teaches kids to make good decisions but the outcome makes sense or has positive results. Demeaning a preteen is a road to problems later on. What lesson should your daughter learn. What should she learn from thisÉ I would like my twelve year old (of course not play cricket next to the window) but if she does make a bad choice, I would like her to tell me that she broke the window and is sorry and would like to replace it through working it off. It is a life lesson – communication and respect and consequence and responsibility. Teach her to use her head – dont teach her to fear you. sorry for the spelling errors my keyboard has some problems.
Comment by Ash — July 30, 2009 @ 4:41 pm
i would like to play this game now
Comment by rose — October 16, 2009 @ 12:52 am
Audrey:
Are you kiding me this will just teach your daughter to hate you and never ever want to speak to you and her father agian. Yes i will say she will never do things like that ever agian but desipline should not be something she should fear it should be more like a learning experience. If i was your daughter i would run away any chance I got and trust me i am young enough to be your daughter because i am only 13
Comment by Kylie — November 16, 2009 @ 4:15 pm