AJ is now 4 1/2, engaged in Karate and working on attitude and discipline awards. As his mom, my goal is to see him succeed and understand how he was successful. I am not sure that he fully understands why he is getting the stripes but he feels proud when he does.

With that in mind, Joe and I decided to make it a little easier for him to understand. We set up a "Job List" for both boys that included things like putting clothes in the hamper, picking up dishes from the table, putting toys away, listening to teachers and parents, etc.

We then put together a list of "Above and Beyond" things that would go towards a discipline award for Karate. The above and beyond list was for things that were not asked of them but they did anyway; help out around the house, help another person, or something done out of pure kindness.

We sat the boys down and began to discuss the lists. We got out paper, smiley face stickers and proceeded to make a sheet for the week. We wrote clothes in hamper and drew a picture of the hamper, wrote brush teeth and drew a toothbrush, and continued until we had the list complete for both boys.

We told them that we would put the stickers on every night and at the end of the week we would do something special if there were a lot of smiley faces on their sheets.

AJ was so excited and couldn’t wait until it was time to put on the stickers. Thanks to the "Above and Beyond" list, we found that he was doing more out of kindness than we thought and we made sure to praise him for that at the dinner table.

It was fun to see his recognition of a job well done. He knew that what he was doing was good and he appeared to be having fun with the process.

I thought that I might need to spice up the job list after a while and decided to get some age appropriate chores to add to the list. I found these on Random Angie:

Ages 2 - 3
*Help make the bed
*Pick up toys and books
*Take laundry to laundry room
*Help feed pets
*Help wipe up messes
*Dust

Notes about this age:
*Excited to help
*Needs complete supervision
*Laying the groundwork

Ages 4 - 5
*Clear and set the table
*Dust
*Help prepare food (example: add ingredients, stir)
*Carry in groceries and put some away

Notes about this age:
*No constant supervision needed
*Feeling independent

Ages 6 - 8
*Be responsible for a pet
*Vacuum and mop
*Take out trash and replace bag
*Fold and put away laundry

Notes about this age:
*Feeling very independent
*Not as excited to help you

We plan to keep the lists as long as we can because it seems to be working. Boo is learning good habits by watching AJ and AJ is happy to teach his little brother. The additions of the "Job List" and the "Above and Beyond" list have been an asset and visual aid in our home. The kids get the opportunity to see how well they are doing and when they make a mistake. Plus, we did not give any definite reward such as allowance, toys, treats, etc. because we felt like special family time was a great reward for all of us. We have let them pick what they would like to do together and so far we have taken a celebratory bike ride to the park, gone to Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone, made soft tacos together, and raced cars down the driveway. I am sure that the rewards will get more advanced as they age but for now we are happy with the results.

Off to make another Mommy Milestone.