Progress

A little over a week ago Jake and Nate were agitating for some way to increase their allowance. They were willing to take another job; the question was what it would be.

After a bit of thought and some house cleaning I hit upon just the right job.

For quite some time I’ve been trying to get the boys to clean their room. Mostly I was tired of the layer of Legos on the floor. They would pick them up when I pushed them, but the Legos would soon reappear on the floor within a day or so.

So it was decided they had to clean their room each week. Inspection would be on Sunday. I helped them clean their room one more time and then they were on their own.

First off I noticed that the Legos were staying in the bin. No longer were they flung about the room.

On Wednesday Nate anxiously asked if it would still count if they just didn’t mess up their room. I told him I really didn’t care how it got clean, just that it was nice and neat on Sunday. Very pleased, Nate informed his brother the good news. Jake later informed me that they now carefully pour out the Legos in one spot and then put them back when they were done.

On Friday and Sunday Nate made his bed. He observed on Sunday it was much easier to get into bed when the sheets were no longer in a big wad.

So on Sunday the boys got a pay raise and Nate even garnered a little bonus for making his bed. Jake was a little jealous about the bonus and started to complain and asked why Nate should get a bonus for making his bed. I told him it made me happy and that’s that.

It’ll be interesting if they keep this up. I think we have made some actual progress.