The "I don't know what to do"/"I'm bored" Jar

Lincoln is notorious for saying, "Mom, I don't know what to do" or "I'm bored."  My usual response has been "Well, go play Legos or go outside and play."  This would usually be followed by "I don't want to" and a lot of whining, which I can't stand.  I knew I would probably hear this quite a bit this summer and was not looking forward to it.  SO, I decided to do something about it.  I honestly don't remember if I'd seen this idea somewhere or what, but I decided to come up with a bunch of things for the kids to do some of which they wouldn't necessarily like, write them down on pieces of paper, and put them in a jar.  Every time Hannah or Lincoln said "I don't know what to do" or "I'm bored" they would have to draw from the jar.  The rule was you said it, you draw, you do.  There was no exceptions.  They had to do what it said no matter if they wanted to or not.

It didn't take long into our summer for Lincoln to have to draw out of the jar.  He drew "Run down the street 3 times."  Ha!  Loved that one.  Would have been run around the house 3 times, but we have a fenced yard with a dog.  This worked perfectly.  Here he is.

Another day he said it again and he had to sweep the front entrance and sidewalk.  He didn't like this one too much.

He has also had to sweep the back patio, clean the kitchen windows, make a card for someone, and play in the backyard for 30 minutes.  He actually liked cleaning the windows.

Hannah has only had to draw out of the jar a couple of times.  The first time she drew "Clean your room."  Oh my was she not a happy camper.  She basically refused to do it.  I told her the rule was "you say it, you do it."  I think she thought that these were fun jobs.  She hates to clean her room, so this was torture to her.  She got kind of ugly and got into trouble.  She eventually cleaned it up and realized that maybe the jar wasn't such a great thing.  However, she chose the other day to draw something and got "Color a page in a coloring book."  She didn't mind that one.

Some of the other things I wrote down were Sweep the kitchen floor, Clean the bathroom sink, Dust the living room, Read a book, Take out all the trash, Work a puzzle, and 30 minutes of room time.  I put these in multiple times, so this jar can last quite a while!!  May have been the best idea of the summer!  Ha!