Greetings! I feel like I just wrote a New Year newsletter twelve months ago! :) My how time does fly by.... We are constantly looking at the New Year hoping to improve something: our manners, our health, our habits, our parenting, the list goes on. So we want to offer suggestions for using your child's responsibility station for purposes OTHER THAN household responsibility. Sure, you can incorporate multiple disciplines into one station. But read below to get some fresh ideas that don't all focus on cleaning the house!
When we first launched our product, a dear friend of mine asked if we had plans to make a station that is geared towards encouraging exercise. Great idea! We have actually found that the station as it is works very well for just that. It also works for retraining less desirable habits, teaching new habits, and other lifestyle/discipline efforts. Be creative, and as we always rant: don't seek perfection! Seek a realistic means to teach your child responsible living. Perfection is unattainable (and no fun) so live in the real world and realize that as parents we are running a marathon, not a sprint.
Happy New Year to you all. As always, thank you. Your support for our company has brought immeasurable rewards and we have you to thank.
Gratefully,
Jennifer, Greg, and the rest of the Beck clan
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 PROMOTE EXERCISE.
{RESPONSIBLY HEALTHY KIDS} We all hear the reports on childhood obesity. We all want our children to watch the TV/ computer screen less and play more. We all know the benefits of physical fitness. So use your responsibility station to promote just that! Let's discuss how to do it...Your station's responsibility magnet allows for you to fill in three parts: 1) commission amount; 2) chores for your child(ren) to do so they can earn the commission and ultimately learn what it takes to live on their own one day while properly managing money; and 3) the responsibilities that you simply EXPECT of them as they live under your roof, eat your food, and wear the clothes you buy them (this is how they help out the family team). Either number 2 or 3 are perfect places to work in some physical fitness....or even on a random chore stick (remember it's responsibility we are teaching, not just how to clean!).The chores we are teaching our children are not necessarily all about cleaning. Remember we are teaching our kids to one day live on their own. So we teach them what they need to know to properly run a healthy, efficient home: grocery shopping, changing air filters and light bulbs, auto care, cooking, gardening/yard maintenance, budgeting, and of course cleaning a home. Keep this same principle when you are adding physical fitness to your child's daily responsibilities. Exercise is simply moving the body for a given amount of time above and beyond what the body exerts to simply stay alive. Playgrounds, bikes, scooters, sports, even just taking the stairs instead of the elevator count! There came a time in our adult life that we no longer played on the playground; we may have forgotten that exercise can be fun!
Other ideas to spur interest in physical activity might be gardening and yardwork, video sports/fitness games (like Wii Fit, etc), or even yoga for kids; taking the dog for a walk, going on small scavenger hunts around the neighborhood, roller blading/skating, even going bowling or ice skating! There are so many chances to work in physical exercise into our children's lives; just be creative!
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 REFORM BAD HABITS.
{OR START NEW ONES!} We've discussed habits in previous newsletters. I find it to be a fascinating topic. You can use the principle of 21 days to make a habit or you can simply give it a couple to three months...whatever is right for you and your family. If there is something that you would like to "re-train" your children to do, use the responsibility magnet to do just that. We had one test family at the pre-market test of our stations that used the magnet to be sure her children were drinking enough water during the day. Other ideas: potty training, eating fruits and vegetables, exercise (see first article), or study habits. Perhaps instead of BREAKING bad habits, simply make your goal to REFORM habits.
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 GOING, GOING...
{BUT NOT YET GONE} We are no longer ordering new shipments of the cleaning products we sell {fuzzy dusting mitts, dishwashing gloves, dusting slippers, etc}. Please find these on our website at a sale price until they are gone. Additionally, we will no longer order shipments of towel tags, school correspondence notepads, or certain box signs. Check it all out on our website, www.fisher-kids.com. Click on "go shopping" and start shopping!
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 THANKS TO OUR CUSTOMERS!
{WITHOUT YOU, WE ARE JUST A CRAZY FAMILY WITH A FUNKY CHORE STATION}
"I'm getting my 5 year old hooked up with your system. She is going gangbusters on wanting to do "chores" and of course loves to get paid. Your system has done wonders for my other two children (8 and 10). They are finally learning about giving, spending and saving. One more thing: my kids have taken full responsibility with initiating and starting their chores. In the beginning it was a struggle and at times, had to bribe them to get 'r done:) Now, my wife and I just sit back and let them run with it! Thanks again for this wonderful, life-changing product."
JOHN
Columbia, MO
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 BEST IDEAS FOR:
{USING THE STATION WITH THREE KIDS}
Here is the scoop to this commonly asked question; there are several responses to this, but just see which one best suits your family's needs.
1) You can technically get three kids on one board. It is quite crowded and may not engage your children as well as even just two children per board. You can do this by purchasing one station and two add-ons. The only thing the children will share is the responsibility magnet (click on the link at the end of this article for hints how best to do this). Another option to make it less crowded is to order an extra pegboard, then butt them up side by side to elongate the pegboard space.
2) If your children are close in age (perhaps a two year difference), I think you can have one board and simply order extra money bags. If you choose this, then the children will share the responsibility magnet, the paycheck notepad and the chore sticks (you fill in the chores on the sticks, so they would have the same chores or you could put color stickers or paint spots on the sticks to delineate which are for each child).
3) You can order three separate boards, one per child. This is quite honestly the best for maximizing your children's engagement, excitement, ownership, and accountability. Because we know that this is not always feasible or reasonable, we created the add-on kit.
Our mission has never been and never will be to have parents spend money unnecessarily. So we created the add-on kit and a completion kit in case you change your mind and want a full station for your child. You can see the completion kit here.
We have focused on using the responsibility magnet with multiple children a couple of times in previous newsletters. Please feel free to read up on this and see if it is right for your family. You can access our archived newsletters here. E specially check out months August, 2010 and May, 2011.
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We are thankful for your support!
Gratefully,
The Beck Family
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