* Saving TV until 1pm each day has been really nice. I love the quieter morning with the sounds of kids playing together and not the guilty sound of the TV. :)
* Act energetic to feel energetic (I had been in a real energy rut)-- this actually works! (From "act the way I want to feel,"-- The Happiness Project by G. Rubin)
* Added an element to 1pm TV time-- if kids jobs aren't done by this time, they have one hour of quiet time in their rooms (not a punishment, but this way they're not tempted to watch TV, saves me a lot of mental/physical energy). So far, this has been a great incentive for them to hurry a little faster. If they miss this window, no TV that day (trying to prevent TV/computer time from stretching throughout the day as staggered kids finish jobs-- they always end up gravitating to whatever bro/sister are watching). I was worried that this would be hard for me-- sometimes TV is so nice when I want to get something done! But it has been fine and I have less guilt.
* I sat with the kiddos at breakfast one morning and introduced the "training program" a la The Parenting Breakthrough (Boyack gives kids a couple month's notice before training them in a job and after training it gets added to chore chart, this gives them time to process, watch you doing the job with no pressure). I thought they'd complain about this but they actually seemed excited to try some new things (who knew?). They asked for me to pull out the book so they could see the lists, and they wanted to write down some of the things on the list (ie, vacuum, make cakes, etc.). They were pretty cute about it. I was surprised. Who knew?
* Job jar-- I don't want jobs to be a punishment, since I want kids to value work. So I was hesitant to use the new job jar I'd created (has slips of papers with small jobs written on them). I have used it a little if I have had to ask someone more than twice to do something, or if I catch a child turning on the TV when it's not TV time, and it has helped a lot. I've been letting them choose two papers and then choose which one they'd rather do (same with "mystery motivators"). They seem to like this and it makes it a bit more palatable. Been referring to this jar as my energy re-filler-- any time they do something that takes energy from me (ie, if I have had to tell them multiple times to do something), they have to replace it (idea from Parenting With Love and Logic, jar idea from 71 Toes).
* Trying to be really firm about no friends or activities until jobs are done-- I thought I was already doing this but I must not have been as much as I thought. I've had to turn away friends (hard, but I have to remind myself, its out of love!-- I hope it will only take a few times). On this day, someones jobs weren't done when it was time to go have our fun day. I was mentally prepared to call a babysitter if need be, but the other kids helped her finish (another good thing to learn!).
Maybe all these things make me sound hard-nosed, but my actual problem is that I'm way too much of a softie! I tend to give in and bend rules and make exceptions all the time and it only adds to the chaos and doesn't help them because they don't have something consistent to stand on. Hoping consistency on my part will help them in the long run. :)
