The Joys (?) of Motherhood

You know, I try to be a good mother.  Most days I do a pretty good job . . . at least I think so.  But then, the Boy will say to me, "Mom--I know I have to do my homework and I know I have to do my responsibility list.  You never talk to me except to tell me to do my homework and list.  It's annoying."  Of course, if you are a mom, you know you're doing your job when your child tells you these things.

So, we struck a deal.  I won't tell him to do his responsibility list, and he'll do it automatically and update it daily.  If he doesn't update it by the time I get up the next day, I take money off his allowance.  Now--this is a simple concept.  The list is on the front door.  He has certain responsibilities each day and he has to mark them off each day (no do-overs on following days unless he negotiates it first).  He starts off with a potential of $12 and for each task he doesn't mark, he loses $1.50.  Note--until this past week, it was $10 and $1 if not marked, but he had a birthday.

You would think that he would try to prove to me that he can handle this since that was his entire argument.  But NOOOOOOO, he hasn't done one task since then and has lost his entire allowance for this week and is cutting into prior weeks that he already earned, but hasn't yet gotten paid.  I think that's fair, don't you?  If he is "responsible" enough to do it on his own, he is "responsible" enough to take the consequences.

I'll get back to you on that one.