Monitor

"It's 8:30! How come you guys are not ready yet?"

"I see PJs on the floor!"

"The school table's not clear!"

"Why do you think I made those morning and evening routines?"

These were my utterances almost every morning for quite some time. I had meticulously selected cute cliparts for the kids' morning and evening routines I had made according to FlyLady's specifications. I printed them, carefully put contact paper over them, and hung them on the walls next to the bathroom. The goal was for the kids to be reminded every day of what they had to do. For a few days it worked, but after a while, the above scenario occured, again, and again, and again, and again.

It was time to stab at another method. I mulled over it. I ransacked my brains. I tore my hair out(figuratively, if I did it literally, I wouldn't have any hair now). I cried. I screamed in my pillow. I snapped at the family. I locked myself in the bathroom. Then I came up with what we now call The Monitor Chart.

Responsibilities produce responsible people. So I figured I would give them each a responsibility. Basically, each child would be given the job of a monitor each day. Each monitor is responsible for making sure the listed 'chore' is done before school starts. For each completed 'chore' a sticker is given. If a monitor gets a sticker for every chore, s/he gets a star.

It's still in the planning process, but I'm planning to attach an incentive to each or a group of stars. Just yesterday I was thinking,

1 star merits a 'monitor pass' (a monitor pass is like a ticket that they can use to pass up the job of monitor when they feel like it)

2 stars merit (I still have to think about this) candy or chocolate maybe

3 stars merit a request to go to a playground of their choice

5 stars merit a picnic

10 stars merit a visit to the ice cream shack (or maybe I should make that Chuck E. Cheeses)


So far the monitor chart seems to be working. However, there are still problems. H is the source of trouble for his sisters because he usually wakes up late and doesn't really obey them. I've been having this problem for a long time: have one child be responsible for the actions of the others yet the others make it difficult for her, and I say her because it always happens to S. When it is time for H to be monitor however, everything runs smoothly because he just shouts out his orders like a captain. His sisters are not that difficult to manage either, though I sometimes notice S purposely dilly dallying so her obnoxious brother wouldn't get a star. N, doesn't like to be monitor, as her personality is rather, well let's just say she doesn't like to boss people around.

So now, every morning, instead of getting all worked up, I just let them do their chores at their own pace. If they don't do it in time, they don't get a star, and I will still tell them to do what they need to do. If they do it, they get stickers and possibly a star, and with the stars, something else. So far it seems to work. In the process, they insyallah will get used to picking up their dirty laundry, hanging their towels, making their beds, cleaning the kitchen table once they're done with breakfast, and being punctual. As they learn to use their accumulated stars, maybe they will learn how to be frugal and efficient, values hubby are just generously imbued with.