kinda strange, huh?

Over the winter I realized how much time my children waste on things; like TV, video games, dvd, etc.  So as the summer drew near I asked God to give me wisdom on how to control this with my kids.  One morning as I was praying, again, I got an epiphany; "pay to play".  As I formulated this in my mind I came up with a plan to implement less electronics more activity.  I made a list of household chores, put a price to each one, labeled old glasses with the kids names, and the kids sorted out colored legos (I didn't have enough change at this point) to represent change amounts.  They do daily chores, get lego money and as their deposits grow they are allowed to, out of their lego money, purchase video game/DVD/TV/computer/IPOD time.  There is, also, a list of  things they can do, that does not involve work but will enhance their brain power, their attitudes, and sibling time.  They were excited to begin this morning, so far, since 6:30am we've been "electronic" free, and its AWESOME!  At the end of the summer whatever they have left, in their glasses, will be exchanged for "real" money, dollars and cents! Already they are formulating what they want to buy!

I love how God cares about "everything" in our lives; the way He gives me wisdom and encouragement with my kids; and  how to pull something together with limited resources.