In our home, "playing" is earned. It's not a right. Pick up your jaw, stop envisioning me as some natzi psycho parent who is a cruel, horrible slave driving parent. It's not as hard core as you think. It's that I believe children should learn and understand that good things come after hard work, not good things get interrupted by hard work.
The way that the kids "earn" playing is by cleaning for 20 minutes or by completing a cleaning assignment. For example: today, Brun had to clean all of the kitchen cabinet faces. When she completed the assignment, she had earned her play time for the day. The whole process took her five minutes. However, when she finished, she earned lots of gratitude from me (Good job Brun! It looks so nice and clean! (sniffing) Oh wow it smells so wonderful in here! Thank you so much for helping me!) and now she's off playing with the toys.
I think it's important for the kids to understand that life doesn't work in an instant gratification kind of way. We don't immediately get to have whatever it is we want. Waiting can be good. Working towards a goal can be good. I want them to learn to set daily goals and accomplish them.
So here's my Monday motto: teach your kids, and perhaps yourself, that games, toys, electronics, etc are things that can be enjoyed after 20 minutes of hard work is complete!
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