High Five medals

I had been looking at ways to be more proactive instead of reactive to go along with the Seven habits. It's is way too easy with five kids and all the cooking, cleaning and grooming that go along with them to just focus on what didn't get done.

I had tried an allowance in the past but found myself still nagging them to check off their list of activities and chores. I wasn't going to pay them for work produced by nagging so we discontinued allowances until they had matured a bit.

At school, they use Mustang Medals to reward good behavior. Mustang is their mascot. They have a little store full of little toys, dvds and such that have been donated. Every once in a while, they go to the store and spend their medals which are just pieces of paper about the size of a business card.

I decided to create our own system for home that is similar. I decided to call them High Five Medals. I got on the computer and created them in a few minutes. Here is what I came up with.

High Five Medal

(you've been caught doing good)

Way to go!

I wanted to put them on a business card template but couldn't find it in Open Office. So I just made columns and separated them with one line space. I cut them out and put them in a jar.

I introduced it to the boys. They were already familiar with them so it was a brief explanation.

One chore = one medal (They already have their assigned list of chores which is just picking up and putting away in three rooms each plus their bedroom)

Extra medals will be given for exceptional work, quick completions (no dilly-dallying) and good attitude.

Medals will also be given for acts of kindness and help with siblings like giving the baby his pacifier while I am fixing a bottle or finishing up a quick chore of my own or giving the toddler his blanket when he decides to scream or playing for 20 minutes with them. However, they shouldn't expect a medal for every single instance. Sometimes you do things for family just because and I don't want them having a self-centered view of service.

High Five Medals are the new household currency and should be treated as cash. If lost, they will not be replaced. Hoping to teach some necessity of organization and responsibility.

One piece of Halloween candy or 10 minutes of computer/Ipad/tablet time for each medal.

10 medals can get them an Itunes song or app up to $1.29 with a limit of one a week.

15 medals can get a Redbox rental.
25 medals can get them an outing to Ryans buffet with Dad. Mom doesn't want to go because I threw up Ryans shortly into my last pregnancy and I may never want to eat there again.

When we find things they want at Dirt Cheap, thrift store or wherever, I will put what we purchase in a make-shift store and assign a price to it. No more buying them stuff just because which I am terribly guilty of and can result in occasional bratty behavior.

My oldest really wants the Hot Wheels Car Maker. So I told him that he could save up 100 medals for that. But then he also wanted the track and extra wax. So it is a total of 205 medals to get all he wanted. He asked what would happen if we ran out of medals. I told him that I could print more or we could create a Harrill Bank. He then went to mapping out deposits and withdrawals. Making goals! Very cool!


I posted recently about a book about kids begging for chores. It literally happened. On Sunday, James asked to do his chores as well as his brother's chores. As long as he got his done first, that was fine by me. Davy was busy with an origami binge so he didn't care. One day, Davy went the whole day without getting on the Ipad or computer so that he could save for the Hot Wheels Car maker. That took a major amount of self-discipline.


I'm figuring out that I need to keep things interesting and upbeat in regards to getting things done around the house. These High Five Medals provide a platform for endless tweaks in earning and spending. It will teach economics. It will be personally motivating for each depending on what reward they desire. Could even use it for charitable donations that they could earn during Advent or Lent. Lots of options to keep us from getting in the drudgery rut of daily chores.