Kid of the Day

For this week’s contribution to Help For Growing Families, I’d like to share our “Kid of the Day” system.

For each day of the week, one child gets to be Kid of the Day (henceforth referred to in this post as “KOTD”). Kids get to take part in the KOTD system as soon as they are potty trained. Before that time, they really don’t care. Once they get to an age when they desire to be a KOTD, this system gives them an extra incentive to potty train.

KOTD is my right-hand kid for that day. If I go out shopping when Iron Man gets home, KOTD has first dibs on being my shopping buddy. If we watch a video, KOTD gets to choose the movie. If there is any disagreement among the children about anything at all (such as the snack they will have, the game they will play, the book I will read aloud, or the skit they will perform) then KOTD makes the final call.

With these privileges comes extra responsibility. At lunch time, KOTD always prays aloud for us. If I need someone to bring me my purse, get a diaper for the baby, put the mail in the mailbox, or any other little errand, the duty goes to KOTD. That is, as long as they are old enough for the task at hand. Obviously, I’m not going to let the four year old check the mail!

This system works well for us because I can ensure that I’m being decently fair with the kids. Each child gets to make decisions some of the time, and no one gets their way all of the time. This also makes it easy to avoid the trap of constantly going to one child (stereotypically the oldest) whenever something needs done.

Want more? Check out The No Yelling Zone or see the list of all my Parenting Posts.