This article doesn’t really have to do with help around the house, but as a parent, and knowing how many of our users are also parents, I thought it would be of interest.
I read an article a little while back in The Toronto Star, and it really struck a chord with me. I’m going to paraphrase a bit, but here goes:
The author was talking about how her son had just turned 20, and was getting $3000 for not smoking. Basically, when her son was 8, she told him that if he made it to age 20 without smoking, he would get $1000. And then someone else (an aunt maybe?), also added some money, and it became $3000. So basically don’t smoke, and you’ll get some money. Great incentive, no? I mean, you can tell when someone has been smoking, so even though the deal was based on the honour system, you can tell if your child has been smoking. But the big thing for me? It gave her son a real incentive to not smoke. So when he got to an age when he would start getting peer pressure to smoke (and it will happen), she had given him a really good reason not to. And a really good response to those pushing him to smoke – “are you kidding? No way, man. I’m getting $3000 if I don’t smoke”. Pretty hard to argue with that. Teens start smoking because of peer pressure, and by giving kids a solid argument to fight that pressure, you’ve gotten rid of the main reason kids start smoking in the first place. And really, do any of us want our kids to smoke?
My kids are small, but I’ll tell you right now – this is what I’ll be doing when they each turn 8.
