Dr. Pope Would be Proud

The Rock Score:

Natalie: 5 buckets
Brendan: 1 bucket

The kids raced outside this morning in the pouring rain and each filled a bucket. When the rain stopped, Natalie went back out with a vengeance and was still working when I came home. She even had another bucket that was almost full, but she was too tired and hungry to finish it.

Some interesting observations...

1) Brendan started fast and furious but petered out quickly. I don't think he really understands the value of a dollar yet. He doesn't really have a toy that he is drooling over (or should I say he just wants every toy?), so he really isn't yet motivated by a few extra green papers in his wallet.

2) Natalie was thinking about all the money she was earning the entire time. When I came home from work and asked her about what she was going to buy, she said a CD player, a Hanna Montana CD, and stuff for my room. So she must realize that with money you can buy cool stuff and that to get money all it takes is a little work. One of the neatest things to see was that Lisa didn't have to bug Natalie to do the work....she just went out and did it.

3) The kids quickly learned that if you used the rake, you could fill the bucket much faster. They apparently also learned that if extra leaves and dirt were put into the bucket, the bucket filled up even faster. We weren't sticklers on the amount of dirt and leaves in the bucket, but the kids found a flaw in the payment process and took advantage of it. Good for them! But next time I'm going to set a stricter rule.

Just so you know, we don't pay the kids for every job they do. They have a very long list of regular chores that have to be done or they can't do certain activities. We only pay for money jobs that are above and beyond the normal call of duty...or Lisa and I just don't want to do them.

Either way, I'm very proud of Natalie. She did a great job and worked very hard. Now if I can just find the right incentive for Brendan... Any suggestions about what works with boys?

BTW: Dr. Pope was my Econ 110 Professor...I loved that guy.