Wii Money

Let it be known that the Sommers family is instituting a Pay-to-Play policy in this house.

Like most parents, Mike and I always wonder if we are making the right choices for our kids. You want to give your kids the world, but you don't want to raise spoiled, ungrateful children.

And so it is with game playing, TV time and computer access. How much is too much?

This year, Corban has a teacher that feels children should have no more than 15 minutes of any of the above a day. While that may be realistic for some families (although I'm not sure of many), it just isn't realistic here. However, we can teach the kids some boundaries and balance. We can teach them to think for themselves and see the bigger picture. We can also show them what we value by how we spend our time.

And, so, the Pay-to-Play Initiative. We cut out all video games (computer, Wii, etc) Monday through Thursday. And we limited game playing time to two hours a day Friday through Sunday. However, we were still dealing with melt-downs when the two hours was up (hello, Jared), and lots of questions about who should get to play when, etc. So, I made Wii money! Each "bill" is valued at 30 minutes and they have to actually hand it to me when they want to play. I then set a timer. What this does is help them visualize and even plan for how much time they have to play. I have already noticed a difference in how Corban and Sydney spend their time playing. Jared, our youngest, is still working on that, but I think this visual will help him.

We can also use this as a rewards system. I made extra Wii money. If they do something above and beyond, we can reward them with more play time. If they do something that needs a consequence, they may have to pay us in Wii money.

Happy kids, all ready to pay up!

I color coded them to help us all keep things straight. This seemed to make them even happier about it all. And my fried brain doesn't have to work hard to remember who paid what. Win-Win! :)