Job Charts

We're trying something new at our house, an online job chart.  We're on day four and so far so good.  Somehow, getting online to check off your jobs is motivating.  We use http://www.myjobchart.com/login  It is powered by Amazon- in other words they want you to reward your kids for their work by buying them stuff off Amazon.  In my usual fashion, I have gotten around this.  Here's how it works:  You assign your kids jobs, each with a point value attached.  You can even create bonus jobs.  You then give them reward options they can buy with their points.  The suggestion is once penny per point earned.  Well, my kids get points for everything from brushing their teeth to sweeping the kitchen floor.  And we're poor.  (Ok not, poor in comparison to a 3rd world country, but Ed McMahon hasn't shown up at our door recently - or EVER!)  Plus I have this thing about not paying my kids to clean up after themselves.  So they earn points, but I totally skipped the Amazon "bribe your kids" rewards and used the part where you add your own.  We have things like late overs (1000 points), I forgot something passes, choose a movie, date with Dad, etc.  They are almost all free and most of them encourage time together.  I think it will be a good way to gauge how the kids are doing (I get an email every night telling me what they did and didn't do).  It will also be fun to see what things they choose to buy.  Even better~ the counters are clean and the dishes are put away.  And for their efforts, I get a game night and a date with my daughter.