Dollar Store

Harrison has made two trips to the Dollar Store as his reward for doing his morning chores. I wanted to come up with an easy way to begin discussing giving, savings, and spending for a 3 year old. He gets a dime for each chore he completes. So I put 10 sticky dots on a sheet of construction paper and laminated it for him to use each week. One pink for giving, one green for savings and 8 yellow for Harrison's spending. On Saturday morning, he empties all of his money from his piggy bank and places a dime on each colored dot. He then puts the dimes in corresponding cups with the same colored sticky dot. Now he needs to know how many toys he can get at the dollar store. He takes his dimes from the cup with the yellow sticky dot (Harrison's spending) and counts out 10 dimes. He knows he can buy 1 toy for 10 dimes.

I wondered how he would react to the news that he needed to give away some and put some in savings. I thought he might throw a fit when he learned he could not have all of his dimes for the dollar store. I decided that I was not going to force him to give and/or save. As with all giving, I want him to give from the right place in his heart, not because I make him. I was pleasantly surprised when he happily put the dimes in his giving cup and savings cup. I have tried to have conversations with him about giving and savings, why daddy goes to work, that God has blessed us and when need to share what He has given to us, etc. I include him when I can when I go to the bank, buy items for our food pantry at church, when we donate gently used items, go grocery shopping, etc. Being intentional during our everyday outings has helped build a foundation for understanding. Plus, I think he was excited to see that even after giving and savings he still got all those dimes on the yellow dots.

It was so sweet watching him shop and pick out any 2 items in the store. He even went up to the cashier and paid. What a great learning experience! Here he is with his two toys he earned for the week.

Chores

I felt my 3 year old was old enough to begin learning the responsiblity of helping out around the house and taking over some of the things I do for him. This was also good for me because I have the tendency to take over when it comes to cleaning or getting him ready. So the night before the chores began we discussed what a chore is and why it is important to begin doing things like a big boy. I told him he would get a dime for each chore he completed and that the money would go into his piggy bank. Then we would go to the dollar store on Saturday morning to buy toys with the money he earned. His eyes lit up and was very excited to go right now.

Each morning, (I walk him through each chore. Once I feel he is ready to do it on his own it will be his responsiblity to complete them. And yes, I realize I may be doing this for awhile, but at least he is doing it.) he has to complete 3 chores. I wanted to start out with chores in which he could have success. His 3 morning chores are making his bed, brushing his teeth, and taking pjs off and putting them on his bed so they are ready for bedtime and putting the clothes on which we have laid out the night before.

Every morning, he asked if it was Saturday. So I made a "My Week" chart to help him have the concept of time. The chart is divided up into seven sections. Each section has the name of the days of the week. I laminated the chart and put velcro sticky dots under each day. I used "My Week" clip art of items that pertain to our schedule and a star for the current day. I will add more pictures as needed. Each picture is laminated and a velcro dot is on the back as well. When he wakes up he moves the star to the next day. This way he has a visual of what he will be doing that day. Now when he asks if it is Saturday yet, I can tell him to look at his chart, find the star and see if it is Dollar Store Day.

Once, I feel he is able to complete the chores on his own I will give him a chore ring. There is a picture for each chore that he has to complete. They are printed on cardstock and hole punched at the top and kept together with a ring. Once he completes the chore, he flips over the chore to see what he needs to do next. After he completes his chores he will come get me to check his chores and receive a dime for each chore he has completed.