Helping Young Kids Get A Handle On Money And More

First off, I appologize for neglecting my blog for so long. Thank you for faithfully checking back and for sticking with me.

Secondly, November is Money Month, so all this month we will talk about teaching kids to manage finances through different, age-appropriate forms of allowance. If your kids aren't in the age group discussed this week, check back next week for tips for 8 - 12-year-olds or the following week for tips for teens.

Thanks again for your continued support. Now, on to this week's post...

Parents often ask me what they can do to get their kids to pick up all of the stuff they leave around the house. In addition to toys, most kids leave a trail of shoes, socks, snack wrappers, juice pouches, sporting equipment, and other odds and ends all over the place.

Between the ages of 4 and 8, it can help to start giving them an allowance. In order for kids to learn how to count money, as well as how to use it, they need to be in charge of some. I recommend giving kids this age three allowance jobs. Make sure they are easy jobs the child can do independently. For example, my children’s first allowance jobs were to feed the dog twice a day, keep their shoes and socks either on their feet or put away, and keep their rooms tidy (remember to keep your expectation of “tidy” age appropriate).

It works well to keep your system simple – if the child does all of his jobs, he gets all of his allowance. If he doesn’t do a job, he gets no allowance. It is too confusing and too much maintenance to pay different amounts of money for different jobs. I recommend paying $2.50 a week. This comes to $10 a month which is plenty of money for kids this age.

When you pay the earned money, pay it in quarters (if you pay $2.50 a week, that means the child receives a very impressive stack of 10 quarters). Then, every night after dinner, have a short time of family cleaning. In my home, we simply call it “15 minutes.” For 15 minutes, everyone works at picking up the debris that accumulated around the house during the day, while I clean up dinner. On Sundays, after 15 minutes is up, I walk around the main living area of the house (not the kids’ bedrooms) and pick up anything left out. The items I collect go into a bag, where they stay for one week. The kids must purchase their things out of the bag the following Sunday for $0.25 per item (this is why you pay allowance in quarters). If they need something before the week is up (like their shoes) they may buy things early for $0.50 each. All items must be purchased from the bag by the end of the week and must be put away once purchased.

This system encourages kids to do their allowance jobs and keep their things put away. You can have your child use a chart to keep track of his work if you want to, although at this age it is generally easy to see if the work is completed or not. If you do use a chart, Target stores carry a cute magnetic one that has many common jobs already listed on moveable magnets, along with blank magnets so you can make up your own tasks.

If you have a great idea for encouraging your kids to pick up after themselves or for handling allowance, share it with us by commenting on this post.

Next month we will talk about handling allowance for 8 – 12-year-olds.

Trapped in Home Office Hell (The Perils of Multi-tasking)

“..in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” - Proverbs 3:6

The idea of a home office is so appealing. There is a certain romance in the thought of listening for the washing machine to finish spinning while I type away on my latest book, knowing I’ll be home when my kids return from school and will have dinner on the table promptly at 6:00.

However, romance has never been a strong part of my reality. This morning, for example, I got my kids out the door for school, had a quick breakfast with my husband (who also works from home), then sat down to get a little bit of work done before heading out to my weekly writers group meeting. I had about 20 minutes to outline a talk I’m preparing, and told my husband about my need to be efficient with this limited amount of time. I had a busy day ahead, with no time for any laundry, cooking, cleaning, or shenanigans. Sweet home office image dissolved.

About seven minutes into my work, I heard my husband’s approaching footsteps on the stairs, along with his low chuckle. “I need to take you away from your work for five minutes, but it will totally be worth it.” How do you argue with that? He directed me to his facebook post containing a Southpark video about the perils of “friending” people on facebook.

How on earth could he possibly think that Southpark would be “totally worth” taking up 25 percent of my working time?

However, this situation is in no way unique. In fact, I could write about this every day by simply changing the distractions and those doing the distracting. I find that I can get house work, work-work, or what I call “people work” (relationship building) done in any given day. It is a rare day when my fantasy of getting “everything” done is realized. This morning, taking time for people work meant I didn’t finish my work-work. I didn’t even bother trying to tackle house work.

Somewhere along the line, our society got the idea that multi-tasking is a good idea. Ask any home office worker, or any mother, and she will tell you it isn’t true. When you try to do everything, you focus on nothing and excel at nothing.

I regularly have to remind myself of my priorities. When my head says, “The kids will be okay if you just write one or two more pages,” my heart admonishes me with, “You are a mother first. You can work again tomorrow.” In the end, the laundry does get done, the work deadlines are met, but when I skip or shortchange the people work, I never get those moments back again, and that time is truly lost. The moments spent in relationship with others are the meaningful times that I remember.

If you are also having trouble getting “it all” done, share with me so I know I’m not alone!

Wisdom in the Every Day

But wisdom is proved right by all her children." - Luke 7:35

A heavy, work-related decision for my husband has us both asking God for an increased measure of wisdom. Requests for insight, discernment and sound judgment fill our prayer times as we wait for God to give us direction.

I can’t help but notice that I tend to ask for wisdom when facing big decisions. However, as a mom, I make millions of little decisions every day that also require wisdom. Deciding on how to get nutrients into my kids’ mouths most efficiently and with the least amount of mess requires wisdom (and creativity). Leading my kids through their daily homework with a positive attitude takes wisdom (and patience). Deciding which friendships to encourage and which one to keep quiet about uses wisdom (and discernment).

I want to remember to ask God to be my guide in every aspect of my life, even the mundane, every day actions like making dinner. With an extra dose of His wisdom, I know I can do a better job taking care of my family.

In what areas of life do you need His wisdom?

Off The Mark

“I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint." - Jeremiah 31:25

Thank you for sticking with me, my faithful readers. I apologize that my Christmas blogging break extended into a longer hiatus.

Recently, I had the amazing opportunity to accompany my 9-year-old to her first archery class. She had been practicing with a toy bow and arrow for years and eagerly anticipated the day when she could get her hands on the real thing.

After stretching and warming up, she finally strapped on a protective arm guard and picked up a real bow. She straddled the firing line, aimed, and let her arrow fly. It streamed through the air, straight and true. Success. One after one, her arrows hit targets fifteen yards away as her smile got bigger and bigger.

I have no idea how many arrows she launched, but after about 40 minutes her bow was tipping to the side and her arrows hit low on the target. Fatigue led to a loss of focus, and therefore, less accuracy.

I’ve sure had that feeling as a mom. When I am tired, I am much more likely to ignore an offense that really should be disciplined. I serve food that is easy to get on the table, even if its nutritional value is marginal. Dawdling is allowed to the point where the kids go to bed later than normal when I don’t have the energy to keep them on track through the bed time routine.

When mom is tired, everyone suffers.

Now, when this happens occasionally, I don’t worry about it. What concerns me is when it becomes the normal state of family life. Sometimes what starts as fatigue turns into apathy.

Mom, please make the commitment today to take whatever steps are needed to give yourself more energy. Maybe you need more sleep. Maybe you need to cut sugar or simple carbs from your diet. Maybe you need to eat more veggies, or take a multi-vitamin, or get some exercise. Maybe you need a little downtime to just play. Maybe you could ask God to help, and spend some extra time in prayer with the Giver Of All Good Things. You may even need to experiment with some different ideas to figure out which ones really make a noticeable difference for you.

After putting down her bow and stretching again for ten or fifteen minutes, my daughter went back to the firing line and started hitting her targets again. As moms, we can be on the mark as well with just a little refreshment.

What do you do to re-energize yourself when you start feeling weary?