Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Tackle It Tuesday: Weeding and Bonding (Updated: Also Works For Me Wednesday)

Kids are on summer vacation. The weeds are invading our newly created planter. What a perfect combination - the kids who complain about being bored are sent to the planter are and are required to weed! Actually, that's not exactly what happened. Here's how we tackled the weed yesterday:


1) First I told them that learning responsibility is important so assigned them a job to fulfill and practice responsibility. That wasn't as motivating I guess. They were reluctant.

2) Second, I threatened. No weeding, no playtime. Hmm... negative reinforcement - works but not fun.

2) So I added an incentive. I told them I will pay them $5 each if we clear that plant area of weeds. (I know, I am resorting to bribery ;).

3. That was a little motivating, but not enough. They were doing it but it was dragging.

4. I told them I'd blog them (nothing like a mommy blogger) :) - That got them a little bit more excited. G said - "Mom, take a picture of me, then add a bubble in there with me saying or thinking "I hate this". Ha! N said "Oh, for me say, "I love this"!. (I will put the bubbles later, I didn't have time to mess with photo shop).



5. But the best motivation of all is when I joined them weeding. It turned from being just a chore into a fun family time. We were able to chat. It was killing two birds in one stone: weeding and bonding. Gotta like that!

For more Tackle It Tuesday posts, visit 5 Minutes For Moms.

Update: This actually worked, so might as well enter this post in "Works For Me Wednesday" too.

I also invite you to view my Wordless Wednesday photos titled Da Rush Maui. That will show a fun thing we did after weeding.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

A family who weeds together stays together. ;)

Karen said...

LOL They like when you blog about them?! Here is mine.

Forgetfulone said...

That's a great post. Glad you got your work done and had time to bond with family, too.

Anonymous said...

LOL, it's SO funny they were motivated with the promise of a blog post! Whatever works...

Sarah said...

haha. I must admit, the idea of a simple chore becoming "blog-worthy" motivates me too!

Mom's Marbles said...

I love weeding with my sons too!