I was super excited to wake up and start fresh today. I woke up as Jason was getting ready to leave, and quickly began reading my Bible before two little wild boys were up and going. As I read, I was reminded once again of the sovereignty of God. Today's scripture dealt with Jesus washing the disciples feet, which is exactly what we studied in children's worship yesterday. The focus was on dealing with difficult situations and our reactions to those. It stated that Jesus could have thrown "in" the towel, but instead, he chose to put "on the towel. I decided to put "on" my towel and make today better than yesterday!
The boys were up soon enough, and we got dressed and were out the door. Our adventure started at Hobby Lobby where we picked up the following items: 2 jars, 2 wooden plates, and 50 marbles. Let me just say that any project that requires me to go to Hobby Lobby has to be good!
Once we were home, we waited until Max's naptime, and then we got started on our project. We laid out everything we needed to complete it. Jack picked out the colors he wanted and he painted the wooden plates that we attached to the front of our jars.
When he was finished, we laid them out to dry and started on another step to our project. We made a list together of three things:
- Chores- these are things that Jack is required to do. He must do them on his own or when asked without whining.
- :)- these are things that make us happy. They are not always required, but they make our hearts smile when we see them.
- :(- these are things that make us sad. When we see these things, there are usually consequences in our house.
Finally, I was ready to explain the marble system to Jack. We have 50 possible marbles that he can earn throughout the week. He gets marble by completing chores and doing "happy" things. If we see a "sad" behavior, we take a marble from his "happy" jar and move it to the "sad jar," where it remains until the end of the week. At the end of the week, we count the marbles in the "happy" jar and he earns $0.10 for each marble (if you're not a math major, that means he can possibly get $5.00 per week.) After we pay him, we are going to show him how to take 10% of that money as his tithe and we will take it to church on Sunday. The rest is his to save or spend as he chooses. I truly believe that tithing is best learned with small amounts rather than large!
After we had our lesson on how it would work, we cleaned the kitchen together, where Jack earned 2 marbles for helping and showing good manners. Unfortunately, he lost one soon after for talking to me in a not so nice voice. But we are learning, and I'm determined to make this work.
The important thing is we have a system that shows Jack his successes, as well as his not so successful moments. He has complete ownership in this system, and I'm looking for brighter days to come! It is my prayer that Jason and I become intentional about leading Jack to become all that God intends for him to be!
No comments:
Post a Comment