No cable TV. With access to all the networks websites and Netflix instant view, there is more than enough to choose from. Instead of the show schedule controlling my day, I get to control the viewing length and time. The big reason: we fight less when there is no TV!
We don’t get to watch
all the shows the other kids do. Luckily
Netflix rates all the shows and movies. We just moved up from PG to Y7,
but I do not allow FV (Fantasy Violence). I also minimize the ones where characters are very sarcastic, bratty, or continually bully.
We have found a lot of great shows like the documentary on Monster
Trucks, Mighty Machines, and the All About series (cars, trucks, etc). If we dig around a little, there are some out of the norm shows and he learns a lot of cool stuff from those.
No music videos: He
figured out youtube. New house rule: we
listen to our music we don’t watch it.
I will not allow game
systems in the house. Again, there
is more free game websites available today than I could have dreamed of at his
age. His favorite game at a friend’s
house is Just Dance. After a long
conversation where he tried to convince me we needed to buy a Wii, I found
all the Just Dance songs on youtube. We dance
for free and play with “real” toys the rest of the time.
There is a chore
chart on the fridge. It has 5 chores
on it that are age appropriate. He is
required to pick up after himself with out pay, but has the opportunity to earn
money if he decides to work. There is no
punishment for not working the chart and we rotate new chores in every 6 months. Some that he mastered go off the payroll and become
part of his routine because as we grow up responsibility and freedom both
increase equally.
Dave Ramsey’s spend,
save, and give pouches. When my son
gets his commission from working, I require him to budget it in the 3
categories. He puts 10% or more in give,
about half in save, and the rest in spend.
He has saved over $200 last year for his “big boy car” already.
I make him buy his
own toys. There are too many pieces
and parts all over my house. If it is not a holiday and he really “has
to have” something, I encourage him to find extra jobs around the house to pile
up some cash for the goal. Many times he
does and he really treasures those toys.
Other times he loses interest part of the way to earning it. If we are lucky, he find a comparable item for
less than $1 at the church thrift shop on Saturday morning. Those are jackpot days!
Thrift store clothing.
We go to Value World or Salvation Army on
sale days for clothes. He gets to pick
out anything he will wear in his size. And
that is only when we are in between generous hand-me-down gifts from a friend.
I encourage him to
donate his toys. After a few months,
the new thrift store and garage sale finds pile up.
I leave box on the floor of his room to fill with toys that are “too
baby” to give to another child. Sometimes
we walk them over to the 2 year old neighbor and there is so much joy in that
transaction.
I make him drink my
herbal concoction to cure oncoming cold/flu symptoms. Rather than co-pays and antibiotics, for $5 I
can buy bulk herbs at a health food store that make enough tea to last me all
year. I mix my special brew with apple
juice and call it “cider” because it is loaded up with cinnamon and cloves to
mask the horrible tasting good stuff I put in there to kill the germs. It takes care of the barky sounding cough,
and all the ear infections we used to have.
When I catch things early, we have very few sick days at home.
Despite all this, he still tells me he loves me every day J
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