Helping Hands!

About a month ago I was feeling like I needed to do a chore chart for Mac, so I asked my friends on Facebook what kind of chores they thought a 3 year old should do. I got a TON of great answers! It was very helpful. There were many that I hadn't thought of for Mac to do, but there were more that I realized that he already, to a degree, helps me with. So then I thought about the one task that we have told Mac was his job, which is setting the table for dinner. And I thought about how much he whines and complaines when I tell him to set the table because it is his job. There is alot of drama that goes on before he eventually does it.

I decided that I didn't want him to feel like that about chores or helping around the house.

So then a thought popped into my head and I got really excited!

And here is what I came up with...

"Helping Hands!"

Every time he helps me he gets a hand, when he gets all of his hands he gets a privelage.

It took me awhile to get this going because I wasn't totally sure how I wanted to implement it.

 But then one saturday when I was trying to get some housework done and I had asked Mac to take his toys to his room so that I could vaacuum, he REFUSED! It was an all out war! He pretty much didn't care what the consequence was, he wasn't going to do it. He sat in time out for an hour, and didn't care. So then I threw out the idea of taking all of his toys away. And he didn't care! I am not a pushover when it comes to parenting and my mom taught me the golden rule of parenting which is "be consistent with the law of consistancy!" And I take that rule very seriously! So I had to follow through with my threat, even though I felt bad about it. As Hubs and I were taking EVERY SINGLE toy out to the garage I asked him if this is a terrible thing, and he was completely fine with it, which made me feel better. I was pretty worried at first about what would keep him busy, because Mac gets bored very easily and then he gets into trouble. But I can't even tell you how amazing it has actually been to not have a million toys scattered through the house, that his room doesn't always look like a bomb went off in a toy store, that he is finding other things to do (with my help) that are more creative. He did alot of painting last week, and loved it. He never asked for any of his toys back, out of boredom or out of just wanting to play with a certain toy.

So this is where the "Helping  Hands!" came in!

I finally decided that I needed to start my Helping Hands idea and we decided that when ever he helps out in anyway or if he does things like his bed time routine with out a fit then he can have a helping hand. When it comes to little things like taking his dishes to the sink I will add a few more little tasks to it for him to get one helping hand. And for bigger tasks he gets one hand. For doing things like getting ready to go somewhere and cooperating, or getting ready for bed without a hassle or even being good during Sacrament meeting at church he

will get one. After he gets eight then he can choose some toys to come back into the house, or another privelage like playing on Daddy's iTouch.

And to be honest, the outcome has been much better than I ever expected. He is actually enjoying helping with things. He actually has the patience for me to teach him the correct way to do things. And he is almost always willing to help when ever asked.

On top of that, he isn't always asking about when he will get something. And alot of the times he will just help willingly and not even think about getting a helping hand as a result.

I am hoping that this will continue like this and it will instill in him, and Oak when she is old enough, to be helpful to those he is around and to have good cleaning habits.

Helping Hands

I traced his hands and had him color them.

I wanted him to help with the project in some way so that he felt like it was his idea too.

Then I cut them out and laminated them and put a magnet on the back.

They sit in a jar on top of the fridge. And he gets to pick one out when he is helpful and put it on the fridge.

He loves to count how many are on the fridge and also count how many he has left in the jar.

He has never gotten discouraged about how many he has left. And it takes him about day and a half to get all eight.