October Newsletter from Fisherkids

HAPPY FALL!

It's Naughty or Nice season!

Our older daughter is addicted to e-vites.....we get an evite for fall decorating, evite for backyard campouts, evites for Halloween decorating, even just today an evite for our road trip coming up! So we submitted our rsvp and broke out the Halloween decorations. Our little guy (5 years old) opened one of the bins and saw the Naughty or Nice spinner that we use all season long and said, "OOOHHHHH.....I will NOT get coal."

These spinners are fun, useful, and can be used all year long for the little ones!

NEW LOOK!

Responsibility Magnet Gets a Makeover

Thanks to loyal customer feedback, we have redesigned the responsibility magnet! Now, you fill in the days of the week to accommodate your family's schedule; not everyone takes a family day on the same day every week! Secondly, we tried to make it easier to understand what responsibilities to put where; the first big block each day is for daily deeds (things you expect of your child each day as part of the family team); the second block each day is for daily chores (you can either put the number of chores to choose from the chore bin, or if your child is older and simply cannot believe that you would have him/her pick popsicle sticks from a metal bucket, you can simply list the chores you want him/her to learn before leaving the nest). The final block is for the

commission amount.

A CHORE IS A BORE

But what do we call it instead?

We had several customers respond to our plea for help as we struggled to rename the word "chore". We feel like the goal of our program is to teach our children real-world responsibilities, and the mere mention of the word "chore" conjures up images of scrubbing toilets, dusting furniture, or cleaning windows. Of course a responsible adult does all of these things to keep a healthy home, but there is so much more to teach our children. Cleaning, yes, but also cooking, gardening, home safety, car safety, personal finances, entrepreneurship, and on and

on.

So thank you to those who sent in suggestions. Here are a few comments:

*"Our 7 year old says to call it work since that is what it is for us just like work is work for dad!" (Jill, facebook follower, mother of two fisherkids)

*"How about a life skill? That's what you are teaching." (Sue, grandmother of two little fisherkids)

*"We like to use the word tasks and duties ;) chore is a bore ;)" (Ryann, mother of three fisherkids)

*"I like to call them "Acts of Service" for the family." (Alison, mother of two fisherkids)

*"My husband and I have always used the word "Jobs". In life, just like in a family there will always be a job to do, whether it be a paying job or not, it will be there. Most people have to work on a daily basis. We think the word Job has a more positive connotation. Plus, our children realize that everyone has to do their jobs for our world to run smoothly. My daughter came up to me the day after school orientation and said, "I'm really glad the janitor in our school does his job, otherwise can you imagine what our school would look like?!". This prompted a discussion of how we are expected to clean up after ourselves etc. everywhere we go....Thank you for developing this system to help save responsibility!"

So in the end, please feel free to use any substitute for "chore" you like. Again, we are teaching our children how to care for themselves, ultimately independently of us. (It breaks my heart to think that one day they will be just fine without me, but then again, one chapter ends and another begins....)

IDEAS SUBMITTED INCLUDED: tasks, deeds, acts of service, jobs, life skills, work, duties.

PARENT RESOURCES ONLINE

Spotlight on Giving

Many of you may not know that we have several parent resources on our home website, www.fisher-kids.com. We will spotlight these resources for you in the coming months in our newsletters.

One of the most important aspects of our company is that we offer parents tools, motivation, and advice to continue using our program. Keep in mind that our program flexes with your family....there is no ONE way to use it. So it is up to you how you teach your child to give, to be charitable. We have several ideas listed on our website, but of course the decision is all yours!

OUR RETAILERS

Lots of places to find us!