Ah, the sight !

My son’s bedroom is next to the living room and anytime I have a visitor, the first thing I do is to close the door to his room, so no one sees the mess. Anything that you can think of can be found on the floor of his room. I have tried everything to get him to clean his room. Nothing worked.

Few weeks ago Yaya came to me holding her piggy bank and asking me if I could take her to the bank. She saved the 2.50$ that I give her every Friday for tuck shop and wanted to deposit the 60$ in to her bank account. Yaya is saving money for her gap year. It didn’t occur to my son until that moment that he too would have had 60$, if he didn’t spend the 2.50$ I gave him.

So I did what any smart mom would do. I offered  25$ each week  to whoever is keeping their room very tidy. Yaya decided to take up my offer. ( She also found a cockroach in her room and I convinced her that cockroach only lives in messy places. She is terrified of bugs, so that was another reason she decided to take up the offer)

On Saturday, while they were eating their breakfast, ceremoniously I gave Yaya her 25$, making sure my son saw the 25$…And the look on my son’s face was priceless. Needless to say, the past 4 days, his room is very clean. Nothing on the floor ( I told them, I will deduct a dollar for each item on the floor and 5 deductions = automatic disqualification).

I was never in to monetary rewards for good behaviour. But sometimes you got to do what you have to do. ( I  make regular deposit in to their account every month, so technically the 25$ is from that)

4 thoughts on “Ah, the sight !

  1. My son was picked to be a wood cutter in some school play. 2 lines of dialogue, not too hard. Day before yesterday, teacher wrote me a note saying he is not interested, please do something, since there was no time left to train another kid. I tried to find out what was going on, he just told me he didn’t want to be one, no explanation. I told him stories about how I was a woodcutter in some school play, how my husband was one, … nothing seemed to work. I couldn’t tell his teacher on the day of the play that he didn’t want to do it. I Finally bribed him-offered to buy him a chocolate which I rarely buy because I think it is overpriced. Play was yesterday, he seems to be fine, was happy to get the chocolate. I am still left wondering whether I should have done that or not….

    • URT: I don’t think your son will be scarred for life because his mom bought him a chocolate and made him act his part as a wood cutter. The only flip side is, he might hold you to ransom, the next time there is a play and expect a chocolate to do his part. But sometimes, you really have to do what you have to. I don’t think offering a chocolate to him was wrong.

    • Angel: I give the 2.50$ every Friday to buy small treats/drink from the tuck shop. ( chocolate chip cookies, ice block etc), but still pack a full lunch for them. Sometimes Yaya and toothless pool their money and buy Sushi from the mall food court after school. I didn’t want my kids to feel that they are missing out on the tuck shop when their friends always buy food from tuckshop. I find the tuck shop food is overpriced and always pack their lunch from home.

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