14 Days to Go...

until Connor's first day of Kindergarten. We have begun preparation. He has his backpack and all of his school supplies. Now we need a routine. For the past several months, in anticipation of having a child in school and knowing the organization and structure that that requires, I have given some thought to our nighttime and morning routines (what time will each begin, what will be involved, how can they be organized and become habit). Today at the pool, my mom and I were discussing these very things and I just happened to have a copy of the new September Family Fun magazine. I haven't even completed reading it, but in the first few pages I came across an article titled A Fistful of Dad Dollars. In it, the author explains that she uses these "dollars" as an incentive to creat order on school mornings. She goes on to explain that she printed up these Dad Dollars free from a website. Each morning, three Dad Dollars waited on the kitchen table for each of her children. In order for her children to pick up/earn their Dollars, they had to complete their morning routine (get dressed, brush teeth, etc...). The catch: The Dollars disappeared at 7:30am. Ah Ha! I am SO borrowing her idea!

I got busy and created our own version of the Dad Dollar and printed a number of them off. I'm hoping I can get Matt to laminate them. I am going to use them for the same purpose. In order for Connor (and Carly) to know what activities must be completed each morning I am going to have index cards with pictures of the things they need to complete before coming downstairs to retrieve their Daddy Dollars. Since I am going to use real pictures of each of them completing the tasks, I started taking those pictures tonight. They will each be responsible for getting dressed, making their beds, and brushing their teeth each morning. These index cards will lay on their dressers each evening and when they get up in the morning they will look at the cards and complete each task, each time flipping the completed task over to reveal the words "Done". If they make it in time and snatch their Daddy Dollars before they disappear, they will collect them to "spend" at the Mommy Mart (also from the article in Family Fun) on things such as a backyard bonfire with s'mores, movie night, extended bedtime, afternoon playdate with a friend, family bike ride, etc... I may also provide other chore opportunities for them to earn additional Daddy Dollars. Hmmm...this could get really fun!

Our very own Daddy Dollar!