My kids wanted a trampoline and I wanted them to have one.
Trampoline's are fun! I have so many memories of bouncing on the tramp with my siblings as kids, or jumping with the sprinkler under it, lying on it reading / getting sunburned as a teenager ... to me a tramp is part of a great childhood. (And we had a "dangerous" one with no net and uncovered springs!)
However, I didn't want to just give them one. They are expensive, and I wanted them to feel gratitude for it and want to take care of it and have a sense of pride at having earned it - but what to do? It would take forever for them to earn the money for it - that would be discouraging. Maybe I could have them save just $100 towards it? I wanted it to be meaningful. Then it hit me - they could do 100 nice things for each other, or those around them!
So it was declared that they would need to collectively perform 100 random acts of kindness in order to earn the trampoline. I made a chart & went to buy stickers.
Looking at the stickers, I thought about how this would go down. Emily would do 98 kind things, and the others would make a last minute contribution and they'd all get the tramp. Hmmmm, how to get J&J actively involved. A moment of parenting brilliance (I have them so rarely, I need to record them!) One chart, different stickers! I bought stars for bek (who I knew wouldn't care that much about it, but I didn't want her to be excluded from being kind), soccer balls for Emily, Batman for Jacob & ponies for Jane (what else?)
It was wonderful. The younger 3 got so excited about it and putting on "their" stickers. Emily ran out of soccer balls, and made her own little stick person stickers with my Xyron towards the end of the chart. I was delighted with how much Jacob tried to be kind, so he could add more Batman stickers.
It really worked well. I was hard on them. Anything that was a regular job, or that I would routinely expect them to do didn't count, they had to go out of their way to be kind.
It took them almost 6 weeks, but they did it ....
Trampoline's are fun! I have so many memories of bouncing on the tramp with my siblings as kids, or jumping with the sprinkler under it, lying on it reading / getting sunburned as a teenager ... to me a tramp is part of a great childhood. (And we had a "dangerous" one with no net and uncovered springs!)
However, I didn't want to just give them one. They are expensive, and I wanted them to feel gratitude for it and want to take care of it and have a sense of pride at having earned it - but what to do? It would take forever for them to earn the money for it - that would be discouraging. Maybe I could have them save just $100 towards it? I wanted it to be meaningful. Then it hit me - they could do 100 nice things for each other, or those around them!
So it was declared that they would need to collectively perform 100 random acts of kindness in order to earn the trampoline. I made a chart & went to buy stickers.
Looking at the stickers, I thought about how this would go down. Emily would do 98 kind things, and the others would make a last minute contribution and they'd all get the tramp. Hmmmm, how to get J&J actively involved. A moment of parenting brilliance (I have them so rarely, I need to record them!) One chart, different stickers! I bought stars for bek (who I knew wouldn't care that much about it, but I didn't want her to be excluded from being kind), soccer balls for Emily, Batman for Jacob & ponies for Jane (what else?)
It was wonderful. The younger 3 got so excited about it and putting on "their" stickers. Emily ran out of soccer balls, and made her own little stick person stickers with my Xyron towards the end of the chart. I was delighted with how much Jacob tried to be kind, so he could add more Batman stickers.
It really worked well. I was hard on them. Anything that was a regular job, or that I would routinely expect them to do didn't count, they had to go out of their way to be kind.
It took them almost 6 weeks, but they did it ....
... and the trampoline was delivered today!
If this isn't happy, I don't know what is!
Bless Emy's little heart. She worked hard to earn it, and encouraged the others to be kind too. It was wonderful to see her jumping and flipping and having such fun enjoying her achievement.
I'll have to make a trip to IKEA for one of those big step stools to keep outside and make it easier for them to get on & off. For now they're doing OK just hoisting themselves up - even little Janie can do it.
Does anyone have any trampoline picture taking tips? Anything taken through the net is not really clear, and when I tried standing on it too - it was so bouncy from them jumping that everything was blurry! I'm thinking about rigging some kind of window washer seat from the oak tree to get shots from above ....
P.S. All are welcome to come jump with us - you just have to sign a release form first - it was the only way I could get Rick to go along with the idea!
5 comments:
We got one recently as part of Eleanor's birthday present, but she was told it was also partly Ben's. It's the best thing we've bought in a long time. I remember your trampoline in Australia - no-one gave a second thought to health and safety then!
A sandbox AND a trampoline - can I come and play too??
I love your idea of getting the kids to earn the trampoline and they look like they really love it.
Among the things you remembered doing on the trampoline, I remember using it to dry washing on, especially washing that had to be dried flat. I also remember getting sheep droppings from our neighbour across the street (Gordon) to put around it on Christmas eve when dad set it up when you were all in bed, showing that Father Christmas had delivered it with his reindeers. You were all so excited, loved it and never had any nasty accidents (that I can remember anyway).
I'm glad the children have one, with all of the safety features, they will have a lot of fun and you will enjoy that. It's nice to be reminded of things you remember, and think of fondly.
Love, Mum
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