Penny Jobs

In the quest for a clean floor at the end of the day, that is, one devoid of toys underfoot, I'm trying a new angle.

I've tried taking away toys for a week.

This simply put toys on a rotation and did not solve the picking-up problem.

I've tried putting toys in the trash.

I found that some toys are more precious to Mom than to the Monkeys.

I've tried the dessert bribe.

However, if I forget to buy ice cream, I have no leverage. Not to mention the problems that follow when all the toys are picked up, and I open the freezer and find... frozen air.

Now I have decided to make the Monkeys pay for their toys. With real money. From real little jobs.

The night that I told them several times, then yelled several times, about toy pick-up, I finally sent them upstairs and boxed up all the toys strewn on the living room floor. Later I took a picture of each toy (there were 30), assigned each one a value, and posted a catalogue on the fridge. In the morning I explained they would have to buy back their toys with pennies earned from jobs. The jobs are: setting the table, clearing the table, putting away their clean laundry, sorting and matching mom and dad's clean socks, cleaning the bathroom sinks (only allowed once a day), dusting the wood trim along the floor, etc. Each job is worth a penny. Some toys are worth two pennies, and some toys are worth 10 pennies.

Monkey2 looked at the catalogue and decided she wanted her lion costume back, and she worked very hard to earn five pennies that first morning and bought it back. She keeps careful track of it now, to the point that when I announce it is end-of-day pick-up time, she puts on the lion suit right away so it will not get left on the floor.

Now she is working on earning 8 pennies to buy back a doll stroller.

Monkey1 wants her 18-inch dolls back, valued at 10 pennies each, but she likes the immediate gratification of doing two jobs, earning two pennies, and buying back a tw0-penny toy. She has bought back a basket, a rabbit, and a plastic purse.

The jackpot is If the Monkeys can pick up all their toys without Mom telling them, they get five pennies. This is going to take awhile, and some coaching, though Monkey1 really likes the idea -- the payoff -- of this job. Of course the first night they lost a heap more toys, but either they will run out of toys or get busy to buy them all back.

Will this really help with picking up the toys? I'm not sure. It is helping me see what my Monkeys value. And, whenever I need help with housework, I shout, "Who wants a penny job?" Most of the time someone comes scampering. That in itself is nice.