Tickets, Please!

I have been kind of down lately because my kids...well to put it plainly they are running over me with a Monster Truck and not even looking back in the rear view mirror.  I've been stuck in the tread of the tire not able to pry myself loose and I keep getting run over and over and over again.  Okay joking aside it hasn't been to pleasant here.  My sweet husband even though every day he's very hesitant to ask, how was your day honey, he has patiently listened.  I was at a loss on what to do.  He kind of bounced some ideas with a guy at work and he gave some suggestions to what might help.  They are things that we have tried before but with a twist so we decided to try it out.  We started a ticket system for good behavior and finishing their choirs and responsibilities.  So far so good.  The girls have a routine in the morning and a routine at nighttime.  Usually they are given 15 minutes at night to do their routine and if they finish they get story time.  This worked for a while then they got relaxed and didn't care resulting in constant badgering from me for them to get things done and them pushing back as hard as they could.  After we implemented the ticket system they were done in 10 minutes flat and I found them actually helping each other instead of fighting.  UGH I HATE FIGHTING!!!  This morning before I even had breakfast finished I looked down stairs to see if the girls were up and they already had their beds made and they were dressed with their hair brushed and working on brushing their teeth.  It was so refreshing not having to repeat 50 times please get dressed, get your shoes on, where are your socks?

Tickets are worth equivalent about 10 cents each.  That's just for us to determine what things cost in the prize basket.  I didn't want worthless knick knacks all over the house so we have things in there that they can work towards like movie night with Dad, coloring books, overpriced popsicles, popcorn, bright pink nail polish, chapstick...ya know things that kids love.  So each of these things are worth a certain amount of tickets.  They can either save up their tickets to get the higher priced items or redeem them every family night where we assess where they are at and to see what we can improve on.  I'm hoping if they want the more expensive ones they can learn to save up.  I'm crossing my fingers.  My 7 year old blows every penny she gets.  So every Monday we'll see where the kids are and hopefully the fighting, bickering, bad attitudes and me being a M.O.M (mean old Mom) will lessen dramatically.  Matt made a little jar holder for each of the kids.  Wish us luck!