A dad I work with just announced to his 3 little boys that he has a new plan for a “Sunday Shelf.”
Here’s how it works:
• When the kids don’t pick up their stuff as asked, dad picks up for them and puts everything on the “Sunday Shelf.”
• On Sunday, he pulls it all out and charges them x cents for each thing he picked up.
• If the kids protest, he says with empathy, “This is how it is in the real world… you can either pick up after yourself or hire someone to do it. Looks like you chose to hire someone. There’s always next week and you can do it differently if you’d like.”
After Dad explained the new deal, 7 year old Ethan complained, “That doesn’t sound like such a good deal for us, Dad.”
Words like that are a great indicator that you are giving your kids opportunities to be responsible and well-prepared for the real world as an adult.
And one more thing….
Dad does the “Sunday Shelf” fee collection just moments after giving them their weekly allowance to make sure they are able to pay their fines.