Diane, a FamZoo mom, sent us the following question:
I would like to just supply a list of chores (with an associated value) that my kids can do whenever they want and do them multiple times. So, I would put ‘one load of laundry=$2.00’ and each time they do a load of laundry they would get $2.00 deposited. They might do two loads one day, none the next, one the day after, etc. Is there a way to accommodate this?
Setting up a checklist of optional extra jobs that kids can knock off from time to time to earn some extra bucks is a popular technique among FamZoo families. Parents pull it off using the rewards, repeat frequency, and expiration options of FamZoo checklist items.
Here’s how you can set up Diane’s laundry job opportunities:
- Decide the maximum number of times you think that a child will do a laundry load per day. In this case, let’s say that number is two.
- Create two daily recurring chores, “Did first load of laundry” and “Did second load of laundry”, each with a $2.00 reward, and (this is important) an Expires After setting of one day.
So if this child does one load of laundry on a particular day, check off “Did first load of laundry” to deliver the $2.00 reward. Left unchecked, the “Did second load of laundry” chore will simply expire and fall off the list at the end of the day. If he gets industrious and does two loads of laundry for the day, then check off both to deliver two rewards. If he does nothing, the two items automatically expire, and no rewards are delivered for the day. Since these are recurring chores, FamZoo automatically places an instance of each on the child’s checklist for the next day.
Going forward, just “rinse and repeat” (bwahahaha, see what I did there?) by checking off or not checking off items each day.
So, the general idea is to simply create one or more checklist items that, when taken together, repeat at a frequency equal to the maximum number of times the extra job can be completed for the reward. Washing the car might be offered every other week. Cleaning out the garage might be just available once every two months. And so on.
Here’s what such a list looks like once set up:
And here are the item settings for the first laundry job opportunity:
Once you get your opportunity chart set up for the kids, be sure to share this classic Thomas Edison quote with them:
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
Maybe that will make the light bulbs go off in their heads!
Need a primer on how to set up chore checklists or want to see how you can offer job opportunities to multiple kids on a single checklist? Check out these related posts:
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