"Duh" discipline

I was over at my friend's house the other day. She has three boys, the same age as mine, and just lives down the street. While standing and talking in her kitchen, I noticed two glass jars, half full of marbles.

"What are those?" I inquired.

"Oh, that's your marble idea! It works amazing!"

I was slightly confused. "Marble idea?"

"You know - I have a list on the fridge of chores for the boys to do, and the number of marbles each job is worth. When the jar is full, they can trade it for $5, or a date with mom or dad. You told me about it a couple months ago. We love it!"

Duh. Then I remembered telling her, after hearing it from a friend of mine (who also has three boy, about 7 years older than mine.) I remember telling my friend how fabulous I thought the idea was. And then I did nothing about it.

Well, all that will change soon. Next week I'm going to start some home/family rules and traditions. I've heard that trying to do it in September when school starts can be overwhelming for kids - too much all at once. So I'm going to take this next month to get some of these things going, so that by September they will (hopefully) be second nature. Hopefully.