ChoreMonster.com is an online system of chore assignments and rewards. It lets parents assign chores for kids by choosing from the default list or adding customized tasks. Each chore can be customized by due date, frequency, and points awarded.

Each child gets his own account, where the chores and rewards are presented in a colorful, easy-to-use interface. Kids can view assigned chores, check them off when they’re done, and see how many points they have earned. When they’ve saved enough points, they can redeem points for parent-defined rewards.

My kids have been using ChoreMonster for a couple of days now, and they’re still in the “this is so cool” phase. They enjoy suggesting chores and rewards for me to add to the system. They’re accumulating points and saving up for the big rewards (playdate with a friend, doughnuts, and a trip to the children’s museum, to name a few).

I like ChoreMonster because the kids go to the computer to see what they can do to earn points and help out around the house. This cuts down on the number of times I hear “Mom!” during the afternoon, which is nice. It also reduces the number of requests I get for treats and things, because they know how many points they need to save before they can be rewarded with something special.

We’ll see how they continue using ChoreMonster. Usually, they’re excited about any new chore system for about 1 week, and then they’re back to dreading chores. Maybe the combination of the computerized format, the scorekeeping, and the rewards-for-points system, will encourage them to stay with the ChoreMonster program! It’s kind of like a game!

ChoreMonster.com is still in beta mode, but the developer has given me an invitation code to share. If you’d like to give the free ChoreMonster system a try, just visit ChoreMonster.com and enter geekmom in the code field at the top of the page. Then follow the instructions to confirm your account.

Let me know what you think of the system. What kind of chores and rewards will you include in your family’s assignments? Do your kids do chores more willingly when it’s kind of like a game?

Caine in his office

Caine’s Arcadeis the creation of one Los Angeles 9 year old boy, named Caine. Given a steady supply of cardboard boxes and packing tape, plus a whole summer vacation to fill, Caine built his own arcade. He built the games, complete with calculators for Fun Pass verification (enter the PIN and press the checkmark button, and then make sure the big number matches the one written on the back of the Pass), and manually-operated prize ticket dispensers (he crawls inside the box to push tickets out through the slot when a player wins), and waited for customers.

He got his first customer when Nirvan Mullick stopped by his dad’s auto parts shop. Nirvan was Caine’s only customer, and decided to organize a surprise flash mob to show up and play at Caine’s Arcade.

I hate it when the Internet makes me cry, but I couldn’t help it when I watched how strangers came together to make a little boy smile. His dad doubted that people would show up to a used auto parts shop in East LA. Watch the video and get the whole story. If you want to help Caine, you can get involved at CainesArcade.com.

Caine’s Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.

A 9 year old boy – who built an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad’s used auto part store – is about to have the best day of his life.

Help Caine’s Scholarship Fund:

http://cainesarcade.com

Caine’s Arcade Online:

http://facebook.com/cainesarcade

http://twitter.com/cainesarcade

Credits:
Directed by Nirvan

http://twitter.com/nirvan

My daughter is 6 years old. She is under the impression that aging corresponds with “getting bigger.” At her age, that’s true!

On the other hand, my husband and I joke around that I’m shrinking. I’m only 5 feet tall, and the last time we marked our heights on the wall, I was 1/4 inch shorter than last time. I tell my kids it’s because they’re wearing me down as they get older.

Anyway, my sweet baby girl gave me her thoughts on the “getting bigger” vs. “shrinking” processes my body is going through. Here’s what she said:

Daughter: “Mom, I think you’re all done getting bigger now.”

Me: “Really? Ok.”

Daughter: “Yeah! And now you’re shrinking!” <giggle giggle giggle>

Me: “I’m shrinking?!” <hahahaha>

Daughter: “Well, except for your this part –” <opens arms wide to point at my midsection> “YOUR TUMMY!”

Go ahead and laugh. I may be losing height, but for the record, I’m also working on reducing the “tummy” area. Aren’t kids hilarious?!

"I'm bored."

It’s been a while since I posted about my work at Squidoo. Well, I just finished a brand new page over there, all about how to keep kids from being bored. I worked on it all afternoon, because I was thinking of ways to keep my own kids from complaining, and I figured I’d put it into a nice, pretty, organized page, so other people could use the ideas, too.

When I was a kid, my parents would send us outside at the beginning of summer vacation and call us back just before school started. Okay okay, maybe it wasn’t quite like that. But it seemed like we spent almost every daylight hour outdoors. Any complaint of boredom was met with suggestions of either household chores or garden tending, which motivated us to find our own activities.

I guess children today don’t get much practice being bored. They need help coming up with things to do. Remembering the things I did as a child (no cable TV or video games!) inspired me to put together a really long list of ideas for my own kids. Some of the activities are fun and games, and some are little chores. They’re mostly free and non-electronic. They might be considered old-fashioned, which means they will seem brand-new to our modern youngsters!

If you have kids (or grandkids, neighborhood ruffians, visiting relatives, etc.) who are driving you crazy with a chorus of “I’m boooooored” and “There’s nothing to do!” then check it out. Boredom Busters: 100+ Ways to Keep Kids Busy When They’re Bored.

If you have some great ideas, please leave a comment and share! Cheers!

photo by John Morgan, used under a Creative Commons license

Red GloBrush

I can’t stand having scummy teeth and bad breath. I can hardly breathe my own air until after I’ve brushed my teeth in the morning! I don’t understand how my kids can skip brushing, whenever they can get away with it!

When I had the chance to try out a new toothbrush geared toward tweens, I was excited. Anything that will get my twelve year old son to brush regularly is a good thing. This is the GloBrush, made by the Arm & Hammer Spinbrush people.

Product description:

Available in three different fun handle designs, this brush is ideal for tweens and allows them to express their unique personalities. The light up color-change timer also makes the brushing experience more fun… and cool again, too.

I gave the GloBrush to my son, along with a pep-talk about how colorful and fun it was going to be to brush his teeth with it! And, he didn’t have to worry about timing himself while brushing, because the GloBrush has a built-in timer. I pressed the “try me” button to demonstrate the light-up handle, and he was off to give it a whirl.

Jake’s report:

Ahhhhhh! It feels like my teeth just had a massage!

He has been using the GloBrush for a couple of weeks now, and he still enjoys it. Usually, he gets over the novelty of these things pretty quickly. So the fact that he’s still using it is wonderful! If you have a child (or a tween, teen, or adult!!) who avoids brushing, give the GloBrush a try. And for extra fun, try brushing in the dark. It’s a light show in your mouth!

Disclosure: I received one free GloBrush.

Kinectimals Plush White Tiger

Back in December, my family received an Xbox 360 Kinect system. One of my daughter’s favorite games is Kinectimals, which lets her play with and care for a virtual animal.

Recently, we received an addition to our Kinectimals virtual pet family. A White Tiger cub, which my daughter (6 years old) named “Stripey,” is a cute little plush toy, complete with whiskers. She was so excited when she unwrapped Stripey! When I told her we could scan Stripey’s nametag with the Kinect sensor, she could hardly wait to see what would happen.

We fired up the Xbox and started the Kinectimals game. She navigated right to the scan rock and after a couple of her wiggly tries, I scanned the tiger’s tag for her. The game recognized the code and *poof* unlocked a virtual white tiger for her! Another Stripey! She was thrilled!

White tiger unlocked in game

The Plush Pals are a fun addition to the Kinectimals game. It’s nice to have a soft, fuzzy, huggable toy to go along with the virtual pet in the game. I think any child who enjoys playing Kinectimals will be thrilled to receive a new Plush Pal to squeeze in person, and to unlock within the game as well. There are five new Kinectimals plush pals, available at Toys “R” Us and Target for $11.99. New animals, including the Canadian Lynx and Jaguarundi, will be released later this year.

The animals are small enough to fit into an Easter basket, and won’t melt in kids’ hands, get smeared into carpet, or cause a sugar-high frenzied rampage. Cheers!

Disclosure: I received 2 plush pals to review for this article.

Billy Twitters Book

I was strolling through the children’s section of our local public library, and I spotted the spine of this book on the shelf. I thought, “is that really a kids’ book about Twitter?!” and grabbed it to take a closer look. As it turned out, it’s not a book about the Twitter “fail whale,” but a story about a boy and a whale.

Still, I thought it was pretty funny, and worth sharing. If you’re familiar with Twitter and the infamous “fail whale” that is displayed when the service is unavailable and/or over capacity, you will appreciate the humor in the coincidence.

Twitter Fail Whale by michperu via flickr

My middle child is a 7 year old boy. He is sweet, sensitive, curious, and thoughtful. We enjoy watching TV together, and we love “So You Think You Can Dance.”

Recently, there have been commercials for a new program, which looks like a combination of “Dancing With the Stars” and “The Biggest Loser.” It’s called “Dance Your Ass Off,” and the promos feature big people in little costumes, wiggling and jiggling to the music.

These people appear energetic, enthusiastic, and uninhibited. They look like they’re having fun.

My son watched the commercial, and thought for a moment. Then, he spoke:

My son: Mommy, I think that’s a program for people who want to get in shape, because they have big bellies. Like balloon bellies.

Me: Yes, that’s right.

My son: I think you might be one of them.

Lucky for him, he’s cute and sincere and sweet and kind. If you haven’t seen the trailer for the show, here it is. And by the way, I’m not as big as the girls on the show. But I do have a squishy belly.

I love my family! And I love to cook. Check that. I used to enjoy cooking. Or… I enjoy cooking for people who will eat and appreciate whatever I prepare. Unfortunately, that is not the situation in my home these days.

Two of my three children have or had food allergies, which made feeding times challenging when they were toddlers. My oldest (now 9) was allergic to lots of things, including dairy products, tomato, citrus, strawberries, soy, peanut butter… Just about “everything.” My second (now 7) was allergic to wheat. The set of foods that they both could and would eat was extremely small.

Mercifully, the youngest (just turned 4) doesn’t have any food allergies. Hallelujah!

To make a long story short, what started out as cooking to accommodate the kids’ allergies and prevent anaphylaxis, has developed into a habit of me running a Denny’s in my own kitchen. I’m like a short-order cook behind the counter. One wants macaroni without cheese (he’s allergic to cheese), the other wants French toast (he could eat macaroni, but won’t), and the Hubby prefers a normal meal, but nothing with peas, beans, or potatoes.

Ding! Order up!

Do you see why I’m going insane?! Every day, every meal, I’m running around the kitchen. Water boiling, toast toasting, microwave nuking, etc. Kiss my grits! (Flo, the sassy waitress at Mel’s Diner in the sitcom “Alice,” remember?)

I finally came up with an idea to make things a little bit easier on myself. It’s been in effect for a grand total of two days, but it’s working pretty well so far. In case there are any other overworked, kitchen-weary parents out there, I thought I’d share my solution.

At dinner on Sunday, I told the crew that I wasn’t going to take special orders any longer. I assigned Hubby and the kids the task of agreeing on five dinners that they would ALL eat. If this sounds ridiculous to you, you must have an easy family to feed, because it was no easy project for my bunch.

After about 30 minutes of lively discussion, they had assembled this list:

• Pizza night
• Taco/Nacho night
• Spaghetti and breadsticks night
• Snack/Buffet night (fruit, cheese, yogurt, bread, etc.)
• Grill night (burgers, brats, etc.)

Those five things will be rotated each week, and on the other two days, we’ll have leftovers or something special.

So that’s the plan. I’m feeling saner already. I went grocery shopping today and bought everything I’ll need for the rest of the week. And the ritual of 5:00 dinner panic has come to an end. Let’s hope they still like pizza a month from now. Cheers!

I wrote a post a while back, on the gag-inducing topic of my kids getting sick, and my willingness to sacrifice my own cleanliness to protect the carpet and sofa. Because, you know, it’s easier to wash my chest, face, and shirt, than to clean the furniture. Hubby calls me “the vomit magnet.” You get the idea…

Well, I’ve been reconnecting with old friends on Facebook lately, and I found out that one of them (her name is Heather too, and we lived in the same dorm during our first year of college) has a brilliant new product for parents. Heather and her sisters came up with a fresh new take on the barf bag. It’s called Chuck the Yuck, as in “Keep the kids. Chuck the yuck.”

It’s watertight, big enough for adults to “use” (morning sickness, motion sickness, etc.), holds blown-out diapers and other yucky stuff, and it’s cute!

Got details?

• Chuck the Yuck bags are 9.25″ (high) X 5″ (wide) X 3″ (deep).
• They are larger than most sickness bags to allow for adult usage.
• They are also water tight and have a seal with a twist closure that is centered in the top middle section of the bag to allow for fold-over and secure closing.
• Chuck the Yuck bags come in packages of 3 for $4.99.

So if you’re still in the yuck stage of pregnancy or parenting, you might give these bags a try. Just make sure you don’t confuse Chuck the Yuck with your sack lunch. Cheers!