Westwood Financial Contract and Uh oh!

Kevin was reading in an ensign from the 80's that talked about allowance and children. It suggested having kids learn the value of money by paying for their own clothes. We have thought it out and came up with this contract. We already had an allowance in place but it was a dollar a week which wouldn't be enough for them to pay for their own shoes, clothes, backpacks etc. They did get paid more if they mowed the lawn or babysat but we wanted a set amount weekly. With this contract, part of Andrew's chores are to mow the lawn, Luke does the weed-eating and Danika is required to babysit 2 hours a week. If she does more than she will be paid extra for her time. We hope that the kids will learn how to manage their money wisely. The younger 3 will still be payed with mommy and daddy bucks but when they turn 8 will move to the contract.
We started at the beginning of last year keeping track of the older kids amounts in transaction registers. I  usually keep them and write amounts but I like that the kids can see what they have and why something has been subtracted (ie. leaving toys out that go to the mommy and daddy buck store, or for not completing a chore). They can cash out when they want it.

 I hope we are teaching them to be responsible for the money they are given and now that they have to pay for their own things will learn the value of it.
Here is what our contract says.

WESTWOOD FINANCIAL CONTRACT

We the mother and father of the Westwood household designate a portion of our income to our children. The following rules and guidelines apply.

Each child will receive half their age weekly in dollars.

It is a requirement to have chores completed and completed well to receive the full amount.  The following deductions will apply:
-$.50 for every required nag to complete task
-$1.00 for every chore undone

2. Child is required to pay 10% in tithing and 10% to savings.

3. Child is required to buy own clothes, gifts for friends or family and to pay their own way into activities when invited by friends (ie. rollerblading, jump zone).

4. Lying about completing a chore will be a forfeit of weekly allowance and extra chores will be applied.

5. Items left out in areas other than bedrooms (ie. shoes, backpacks) will be placed in the Mommy and Daddy buck store and can be retrieved for $.25 cents.

6. Clothes left on the floor at anytime will be considered a chore undone and is subject to the $1.00 fee as stated above.

7. Chores halfway completed will also be considered as a chore undone.


By signing this contract you agree to the terms and conditions stated and agree to comply.


_______________________      
Child's signature
_________________________                                                        Parent's signature

As to the Uh oh.... I had a neighbor come over to have me cut his hair. While cutting his hair BriLynn decided to cut hers. AHHHH So I had  to cut it short in order to blend in what she snipped off.  

It's nice that she has naturally curly hair, it makes the shorter part blend it better.

So that is the second time she has cut her own hair. Hopefully we are done with that :)

Birthday Poems

For my birthday, my sweet hubby and kids sent me on a treasure hunt.

The first one they gave me said:

Roses are red,
violets are blue.
I know you like reading,
and I do too!!
Reading is fun,
I read to myself,
I go get my book,
on the ___________.
Love Andrew.

I found a new book and the next clue on the bookshelf.

2nd clue:

Golf,
Tennis
Basketball
We don't care which
 we love them all!

(closet with balls in it) Jacob gave me a CD

3rd clue:

Gold and Silver
Dark or Light
Put on something
Shiny and bright.

Danika gave me a matching mother daughter necklace with the next clue.

4th clue:

Lets go hide
Lets go seek
to find some good
stuff to eat.

(I found earrings in the pantry from Luke)

5th clue:

We love to run
We love to  play
There is no cleaning
on this special day

I found a gift from Kevin in the cleaning supplies and the last poem said:

Roses are Red,
Violets are Blue
There's no doubt
We all love you!

It was a fabulous way to start the day! I sure don't deserve my wonderful hubby and great kids, they rock!!!!

Loosing my Mind!

I'm pretty sure that has been the header to another post. This week the kids are on Spring Break. Schedules are different right? Well I felt things were going smoothly till I totally SPACED taking three of the kids to their piano lessons. We went to Baby Animal day and it didn't even come to mind till we were home and Danika mentioned something about it. I felt like it was run run run all day. Playing at the Sports Academy, Home, Shower, Storytime at Library (I remembered somethings), Home, Lunch, Meet with a friends in Smithfield, Baby Animal Days, Home, Eat, Scouts, Visiting Teaching, Home, Laundry etc...... BREATH. Well I don't think the kids mind that they missed out on lessons but I mind (I pay for them he he).
Well here are a few pictures of recent happenings:

                        We met the Easter bunny at Lee's. 

I was so happy that Jonathan liked him. He gave him a hug and a high five. As you can tell from the sun in their eyes it was a beautiful day. The weather has been perfect, I LOVE SPRING!

Our Neighbor Marissa came with us to Baby Animal Day which helped me out a lot. She took more pictures with her phone but I did get a couple.

I think the baby turtles were the kids favorites. The baby bears were cute too.

Here's hoping I don't loose my mind anymore this week.