The first week has ended, and already I've reached a very important conclusion. I will be broke by July. No kidding! The way my kids are putting in extra effort and being recognized for the good things they are doing encourages them to do more good things (i.e., things they ought to be doing anyway) which results in them earning mucho dinero mas rapido (sorry if that is in the wrong order, I'm a bit rusty on my español). My son is earning 50¢ every time he tries a new food, and he has decided that trying new foods is not all that bad. So far he has tried scrambled eggs, barbecue sauce, chicken nuggets, Cincinnati chilighetti, and fresh pineapple (which was his idea, in the produce section by the way - as long as he didn't have to eat "those pokey things"). My daughter could earn that much as well, but she is a much less-picky eater already, so there are not that many "new" foods for her to choose from. Either way, they are consistently earning at least one dollar each day, and with approximately 150 more days they can earn Beach Bucks before tallying up their dizzying amounts of money, I could be out well over $300! That ain't chump change in this house.
After having this epiphany two days ago, whilst taking our kids on a much deserved outing to see "The Nut Job," I had a second epiphany. I can use the Beach Bucks like tokens that the kids have to trade in if they want to engage in certain activities while on vacation. A short list of activities that we ordinarily engage in, as well as a few extra special treats thrown in, was easy to mentally compose:
- SnoBalls
- The Shake Shop
- Smugglers Cove Adventure Golf
- Egmont Key ferry from Ft. De Soto
- Dolphin Quest on Boca Ciega Bay from John's Pass Marina
For the less expensive things that we always do at least once, the token amount will be small - maybe $10 worth of Beach Bucks for a small SnoBall or milkshake. For bigger things the price will be more like $50 worth of Beach Bucks. That may seem steep, but, hey, they are going to have Bucks to spare. I'm only going to reserve $20 that they can exchange dollar-for-dollar and spend on whatever souvenir they want. We will likely souvenir hunt at John's Pass, or if we are lucky enough to get to visit Tarpon Springs again they can spend it there.
Additionally, I may make them work harder each month to earn the coveted Beach Bucks. For example, instead of getting 10¢ each time they clear their dishes from the table, they will get 10¢ for clearing dishes after every meal for one entire day. If it is getting to school on time, it may be two days in a row to earn 25¢. On second thought I may keep that one the way it is! We don't want any tardies.
So, what format am I using? Well, you're in luck because I am going to share my Beach Bucks chart and money. I printed one chart and slid it into a page protector, which I taped to the wall at kid-eye-level. Each day I use a dry erase marker to check off what they have accomplished so they can see what they are earning. I also use a STAR stick, which I mentioned in Operation Beach Bucks. This is because my daughter's school uses this as a behavior/classroom management tool. I painted a paint stirrer and colored clothespins for each kid. That way it is a constant visual reminder of how they are behaving. Most of the time I make them move their pins so it (hopefully) makes them think about what they did that was good or not-so-good.
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| Beach Bucks envelopes |
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| STAR stick, start every day on GREEN |
Please keep in mind this is only a suggestion. You will need to tailor it to fit your lifestyle and expectations of your own children. I printed five copies of the money so I could be sure to have enough to last for a while. When I run out of the smaller Bucks, I will trade them in for the larger ones. I'm not sure if you can edit the documents using the same fonts I did - mine were from a font program (Cosmi Print Perfect Fonts), and the style is called JI-Drapey.
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