The token economy: slowing down? And, adding bathrooms.

It's the end of another month, and I thought I'd check in about the token economy.

Starting in April I wrote a few posts about using a "token economy" to link my kids' allowance to certain housekeeping chores.   

• Introduction, including the story of waffling about what to do with allowance
• Results of my first experiment, linking room-cleaning to allowance, using popsicle sticks as daily tokens
• Expanding the system to include laundry
• Cooking for the family for "bonus tokens" 

Things fell off a bit this month because of some travel:  all of us out of town for a week, various children gone with grandparents and for scout camp; I was even out of town for a bit.  It was hard for me to remember to check rooms, and sometimes there weren't any children there to check.  They'll get more money than they deserve this time!  

I did settle on one procedure:  If you go to camp for a week, and you put your room in order before you go, you'll get to keep your token for every day that week (even if a sibling messes up your room while you're gone, or if Mom cleans the house and tosses all the belongings she finds in through your room door).  If you don't tidy before you go, you'll lose the token for every day that week.  

The schedule has been so weird that only two family dinners have been made by kids this month.  But we should get back to that in August, most of which we'll be home for.

+ + +

August's new chore will be daily bathroom maintenance.  

Our house has two and a half baths.  One full bath is part of the master suite, and the kids aren't supposed to use it unless the other two are occupied, so we won't have them clean it either.  The other two are a tiny main-floor powder room and an upstairs bathroom/laundry room combination.

Three kids, two bathrooms, what to do?  I want to keep it simple:  both bathrooms presentable enough for guests every day, and have it be really clear whose job is whose.  The idea is that the bathroom task and the bedroom task must be done for each child to avoid losing his day's token.  Because it's all-or-nothing, the tasks must be simple, a daily minimum that will keep the room from getting out of control.  

But, at the same time, I'm going to give them a fifty percent raise:  each of the 30 tokens will now be worth 75¢, but it'll be easier to lose.  (Making dinner for the family will earn an extra "bonus" dollar for the day).  So each child could get up to $26.50 in the month, if they made dinner once a week and never missed a chore.

+ + +

I decided to assign my 13yo -- who will turn 14 soon -- sole responsibility for the powder room, which of course is what guests see most often.  It's to be cleaned up last thing before going upstairs to bed at night, and will be checked in the morning.  Every night he'll have to confirm that

• trash is not full
• there is TP on the roll and there is a spare roll
• there is nothing on the floor
• there is nothing on the counter, except the soap dispenser
• sink is wiped, mirror is wiped, toilet is wiped, light switch and doorknob are not messy
• there is a hand towel ready to be used.

My 7yo, who is to turn eight next week, will share responsibility for the kids' full bath/laundry room with her 10yo brother.  I don't want a complicated alternating-days schedule; instead we'll have a clear division of tasks.  The 7yo's job, which has to happen after she has brushed her teeth and bathed, will be to ensure:

• all bath toys are in the basket
• there are no other toys
• there is no laundry on the floor (if she finds her big brothers' dirty socks and such, she gets to fling them into the boys' room for them to deal with as part of their room-cleaning tasks)
• the towels, bathing suits, gym bags, etc. are hung up, not on the floor
• the shower curtain is pulled closed

The 10yo's job, which has to happen after the 7yo is done, will be to check that 

• trash is not full
• no detergent is spilled on the floor
• there is TP on the roll and there is a spare roll
• the sink is wiped, the mirror is wiped, the toilet is wiped
• the toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap are neatly arranged
• nothing else is on the sink
• there is a hand towel ready to be used 
• there is a clean bath mat neatly placed on the floor

 

I bought two big bottles of Windex All-Surface cleaner, which is supposed to be good for both glass and countertops, and stowed one in each of the two bathrooms.  The kids know where cleaning rags are to be found.  I'll put up a checklist in each bathroom.

+ + +

"Where are you going with this?" Mark wanted to know yesterday when I sought his opinion on how much to raise the values of the tokens.  "Are we going to be doing tokens forever, or is this just a learning tool?"

I don't actually know yet.  Mainly, I needed to cut down on my daily workload and set clear expectations.  Perhaps we can toss the tokens later; I hope so.  Or perhaps we can keep them just for the younger children and the older children can "graduate" to a less rigid system.  I'm not sure.  But for now, it really is working; and there are still tasks left to add.  I've noticed since we got a new computer and put the old one in the upstairs office, the upstairs office keeps accumulating piles of pillows and blankets and extra chairs and odd pieces of paper with notes about upcoming Minecraft buildings on it.  And there's the game room, where the Wii and all the board games are:  constantly cluttered.  And the basement climbing gym is constantly acquiring new socks and hoodies on the floor...

What I think this is doing for me is serving as a way to communicate my expectations.   Instead of fuming about a problem, or worse, resignedly fixing it myself, I want to be able to delegate without nagging.   I want kids to be in the habit of looking at a room and seeing if something needs to be done, and not assuming that some other person will make the problem disappear.  Picking up after themselves.  

And -- hey -- I want to live in a tidier house without having to be the one to do all the tidying.  I -- quite literally -- have enough other things to do.

Comments

[Jenny]

I have been watching the token experiment with lots of interest and we are seriously considering trying to implement a similar system.

"I want kids to be in the habit of looking at a room and seeing if something needs to be done, and not assuming that some other person will make the problem disappear."

This. Exactly. The problem I have to overcome is that I am not home to ride herd on the children to make them pick up after themselves. This system seems to cut out that problem. You either met expectations or you didn't.

While having a tidier house would be the ultimate goal, I think we would first start with getting ready for bed. At my house getting ready for bed means:

1) Go to the bathroom
2) Wash your hands
3) Brush your teeth
4) Change into PJs
5) Put your dirty clothes in the basket
6) Get your clothes out for tomorrow

Every night I chant this litany over and over and over to each child, but I want it to be a seamless event and not take the eon it currently takes. I just have to make the time to put the tokens together and set aside money in the budget. Beginning of school would probably be a good time to make this come together.

[Melanie B]

I'm following with interest and still pondering what this might look like in our home.

My gut feeling is the token system would work pretty well with Sophie, who already has leanings toward being tidy and who has been known to put her clean laundry away without being asked.

But my fear is that Bella, because of her ADHD tendencies, would be very interested in the money and yet not be able to remember and follow through on her own, thus creating more tension not less.

Maybe, I could delegate the task of reminding Bella to Sophie? I think Ben could do very little now, but in a year or two will probably be quite adaptable to a token economy.