New Sheriff In Town

Not sure if it has been the seemingly never-ending winter break for the kids or if they truly suffer from A.D.D., but combine their boredomness with my need to control, and you get the perfect storm. But never fear! Some morning TV show (I think it was TODAY) came to my/our rescue with this great idea!

Here you see 36 ping-long balls. I have written on them either a chore or an activity, and placed them all just perfectly in this $2 glass jar from Goodwill.

The idea presented on TV was that if you were a parent who needed to get your children involved in the household chores, put chores on the balls, every child picks one ball, finishes that chore, and picks another, so on and so forth... and the child that could do the most chores in a specified amount of time, such as 15 or 30 minutes, was the "winner" and, of course, would get a prize (in our house that would be a kiss from me!).

Loved the idea, but we don't have a problem with our kids doing the chores we tell them to do. We have a problem with them constantly needing to be entertained. We will use the balls as the TODAY guest suggested, but we will also use them to curb the boredom in our lives.  

Now, if one of our children come to us complaining that they don't have enough to do... BAM! Grab a ball. If I am lucky, you will select a chore to be done. If the child is lucky, they will select an activity... like "Play Wii" or "Write Joseph a letter".

Some of the other things written on the balls are "Write I'm Bored 200 times", "Clean the woodwork", "Sweep out the garage", and even "Watch TV". Seriously, Matt and I cannot fathom how two children (Audrey is okay to be in her room alone for eternity) could have so little to do.

We may also use it as punishment or rather a deterrent from poor behavior.... Imagine me in my most evil voice, "GRAB a ball!"

The jar is sitting on my kitchen island. Not to be missed. Suckas.