Battle of the Chores!

November 10, 2009
filed under: Fall 2009, Family

In our home keeping on top of things has usually fallen to me, why should the kids do anything when they know that eventually I will get tired of the mess and clean it up myself.  Well these days I am too busy and too tired to continue with that attitude. So last week we implemented new rules in regards to chores, yes I still do the majority of the work- that will change with time but I figured we would start out small.

There are 3 simple rules in the house now that everyone must follow, if they do not then that person will receive a punishment chore.  These are the 3 basic rules that we all must follow.

1. Take care of your own hygiene (teeth, body, brain type things).
2. Do your assigned chore (Matt garbage, Emmy recycling,  Me the rest).
3. pick up after yourself.

Pretty simple, but when you look in depth I think it covers everything.  They need to take care of themselves, their living environment and and do one specified extra chore.

Last week Matt didn’t complete his chore, so he had to clean out the upstairs hall bathroom- didn’t take long and was something that needed doing. Over time I think I will get a project like that done every week from him, since he constantly forgets his chore.  But to get on the computer the next day he must complete his chore plus the punishment chore.

Last night Emmy didn’t take the recycling out, its always placed in the same spot on the kitchen counter top.  So today after school she took the recycling out and made sure that all the bathrooms were stocked with toilet paper.

The extra chores are quick, something that needs to be done and age appropriate. This is an implementation that Matt’s ADHD Dr suggested some time ago, and I think it will work. Eventually I will have a chore jar filled with the punishment chores,  1 for Emmy and 1 for Matt.  But till then we will tackle what needs to be done first.

Matt and Facebook

October 19, 2009
filed under: ADHD, Facebook, Fall 2009, Matt

So yesterday I decided to push Matt to befriend his school friends in Facebook.  He’s been on there for just about a year and the only people he’s been friends with have been the old college friends of myself and his dad.  So yesterday I went hunting for his school friends, and he finally caught on and began to search and find them himself.  No I know that he wants the friends for the different games where you get bonuses for the more friends you have, but it is a start.  Matt seems to have lots of school friends, but there is really no one he is especially close to.  I know a lot of this probably stems from the way he behaved as a younger kid, that pesky ADHD definitely made him a handful.  Most parents back then seemed to see that and knowing that at least deep down Matt really is a good kid they did not forbid their kids from playing with Matt.  But they also did not invite Matt over for sleepovers or play dates.  I think Matt was probably 9 or 10 at his first sleepover, and he seemed to have 1 a year with that family.  But last year the boy had a video game B-day party, uhm that is the worst possible combination for Matt.  Add into the mix his dad and I didn’t have a good day the day we dropped him off. So he was definitely a lot wilder than normal.  He has not been invited over since.

I really want Facebook to be an outlet where he communicates with his peers, instead of just hiding behind being just a school friend I would like him to form some real true friendships.  Plus by doing this now when he is 13 I have a lot more control over his account, and can monitor things more closely than I could in a few years.