Notes on the Token Economy

I didn’t do much reading this week, and only a tiny bit of work around the house–like, I put in a load of laundry at some point or something–and basically failed to maintain those standards of “self care” about which I have been raving for a whole week.

But I have been making the children do their school. And, better yet, we returned to the Token Economy to speed up their labors around the house.

For those of you who don’t know about the Token Economy you should go read everything Bearing Blog has said about it, which is where I heard of it many moons ago. We did it for a while and then forgot about it, but when I was casting about for some way to get the children to stop whining (kind of a perpetual problem in my life) I remembered that the institution of sticks had done some good.

This time, however, there are no sticks because I can’t get up to find them. Instead, I am allotting little tick marks. I have a long list of tasks, each worth one stick. And I’m not giving out money for anything. Rather, each stick is worth ten minutes of screen time.

More also, because the children are all burning out on kitchen clean up (everyone had a job, everyone hated all the jobs), we divided them into two teams and are making them compete for extra sticks. In this way they get days off from the kitchen, and they also are finally going at a reasonable speed.

Basically, in my desperation, I’m giving sticks for everything–piano practice, teeth brushing, bringing me a glass of water, anything that makes the day go more smoothly. Stick Inflation has probably already crept in, just because I’m a sucker.

As I’m writing this out I suddenly feel how very boring it is. Keeping track of little marks and negotiating with angry children about the value of a Popsicle stick represented a tick mark is not that fun. On the other hand, the house looks great and the kitchen is being cleaned after meals in about half an hour. Plus, people are finally practicing the piano and brushing their…..I was going to swear but I won’t….teeth.

And, don’t worry, I do feel horrific guilt about paying them with screen time. Look, I’m house rich and cash poor. But also, I was hating the feeling that watching Netflix and playing Minecraft was a birthright. Now they have to do Something to merit the thing they most value. Because Jesus? Oh man I’m a terrible mother,

Wow, I can’t talk about this any more it’s so boring. Sorry! Have a lovely day!