Sunday, October 26, 2008

Let's pretend!

Remember a while ago when I told about this great incentive program where we would pay the kids one dollar every day that their rooms were clean. It was kind of a flop because in several years we only ended up paying out $17.00.
Last week, Brielle decided that she needed some money so she cleaned her room. She did a really good job, but was quite disappointed when I told her that we were no longer paying for clean rooms.
So this week, she has been doing a great job at keeping her room clean, and is making comments such as..........

"My room has been clean now for three days, I have $3.00 in my imaginary allowance."

"I've kept my room clean now for 6 days, I'm up to $6.00 in my imaginary allowance."

And when we were at the store she said

"If I had that $8.00 from my imaginary allowance, I would buy this cute headband."
and
"If I had that $8.00 from my imaginary allowance, I would buy everyone a candy bar."

Yesterday, She said "If I had that $15.00 from my imaginary allowance, I would want to go to the store and buy a new shirt."

"$15.00?" I asked, "yesterday you only had $10.00, where did the extra imaginary $5.00 come from?"
and she answered "I watched Max for you yesterday while you went to the store, and I did such a good job that you gave me an imaginary $5.00."
So I offered to pretend to take her to the imaginary store so she can buy herself an imaginary shirt.

And while I'm at it,

I think we'll take the kids on an imaginary trip to Hawaii, and buy an imaginary new couch and loveseat for the living room, and then I can lose a bunch of imaginary weight so I can go and buy me an imaginary new wardrobe...............

20 comments:

Laura said...

Who needs a money tree, when you have an imaginary bank! LOVE IT!!!

Oh the things I could do! The things I could buy!

MamaHen Em said...

I want to play! I imagine that if I had some imaginary allowance, I would finish decorating the basement, go on a shopping spree, take a vacation and go get hair extensions!

b. said...

You all have an amazing imagination!!

(Your daughter has picked up your awesome sense of humor...you should totally take credit for that!)

Unknown said...

This is pretty dang funny of her.... my only worry is, what about the day she figures out you can just IMAGINE her room is clean?

Kristina P. said...

Just as long as she's not WEARING imgainary clothes. I could see how that might become a problem.

Suburban Correspondent said...

I must say, Brielle is clever.

I like the kids-and-money ideas in "Debt-Proof Your Kids" by Mary Hunt. Simple to implement, and not expensive for the parent.

Mum-me said...

That's one of our favourite games here - imagine how much of this or that we could do or buy is we had "X" amount of money. It's nice to dream!

And thanks for letting me know the measurements for the fudge! I am going to make some soon, very soon.

M said...

You gotta love her persistence and ingenuity. Just remind her that she has to survive your house before those skills can pay off as an adult.

LisAway said...

Oh!! Great idea. I love that she's keeping it going.

I wonder if I can get my kids to do more around the house telling them they'll get an imaginary allowance (I'll be very liberal in dollars given for each task) that they can spend on ANYTHING imaginary that they want!! David's been dying for a new bike. Maybe this will work for him. . .

Elizabeth said...

I love it...she sure is creative.
My kids get an allowance for chores done, but is supposed to be subject to a clean room :(
We never seenm to be able to hold them to that...
Hoping to post about my girls room makeover soon.
Hope your imaginary vacation is great!!!

Have I ever told you that I lived in a town in NJ named Brielle???
There was an exchange program from the church where some kids visited Brielle, Holland and then some of their kids came to the states.

Blessings, E

Threeundertwo said...

My imaginary cleaning lady has been particularly lazy lately. Maybe I should give her an imaginary raise.

Me said...

Brielle is so much fun...She is so creative. I love that beautiful girl! Tell everyone hi for me :-)
Thanks for the comments. I have such a wonderful artist! :-)

Jillene said...

Hahahaha!! That was HILARIOUS!!

Randi said...

Wow! and even thinking up new imaginary jobs to increase her imaginary income. I'd say you have quite the little imaginary entrepreneur there.

Jenny P. said...

Excellent strategy! If only it were so easy...

Amber said...

I need an imaginary job where I'm the imaginary CEO and I earn millions for reading blogs...

Jen said...

Fabulous. I would buy an imaginary fabric store from which I would use whatever I wanted.

Unknown said...

Ha!! I am laughing out loud!!!

Jessica G. said...

Sure it's an imaginary wardrobe but the FUDGE is real!

Hey It's Di said...

I sure wish that kids would be satisfied with imaginary stuff! I have the best imagination and boy does pretending make me happy:P