We had our first Jail Sale today (say that five times fast). We have been gathering toys or other items not put away as they should be, generally after multiple warnings, and putting them in "jail". Jail is not fancy, just a box in the furnace room. They can buy their things using the money in their allowance and job account at any time. We keep track on a big white board which is much easier than trying to find exact change to pay them. At the end of each month we will have a jail sale which is their last chance to buy their things before they are donated or sold at our discretion. Things were priced from .10 to 1.50. We figure that if it's not worth paying for, it's not worth the storage space.
This idea came from a memory Paul has of a friend that came to school one day wearing two different shoes. When his friends teased him he explained that one shoe from each pair was in "jail". We have taken this idea and adapted it for our family.
Ultimately, we are hoping to teach our children to care for, and appreciate their things. We also want them to realize the value of what they have. Not to mention being able to clear out some of the toys they really don't care about.
We also award "Get out of Jail Free" cards for good behavior such as cleaning up without being asked, being kind or thoughtful, being first to the dinner table or other desirable behavior. Each card is good for one free item. If the same item gets put in jail 3 times, it is no longer available to buy back. They are getting better at remembering to put away the Wii controllers. They have already lost them once!
They bought everything today and had fun doing it. I tried my best to remind them that they are having to spend their money for their own things and that if they had taken care of them they wouldn't be there in the first place. We'll see how this month goes. They have been warned that we will be more consistent in putting things in jail and that prices will likely go up. It's always fun to have a new system to change things up a bit.
4 comments:
You are a genius!!! I am going to copy your idea.
Great idea Brooke. We are changing things a bit at our house too. We have been lax on teaching responsibility of caring for the house and taking care of their things.
This sounds similar to something my mom did. We called it "the black trunk." We hated the black trunk growing up! :) If it got left out, it went into the black trunk, and we had to do an extra chore to get it out. It didn't help that Robert was the enforcer, either. I think your idea is a lot more creative and even fun! I'll have to steal this one when mine get a little older. :)
I like the way you think. It would be hard for me to be consistent with it, how do you keep from getting slack about it?
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