Accountable Kids Program Review

A few months ago I was at my end. I felt I had lost control. My children especially were showing signs that things in our family were just not functioning well. It has always been a struggle with my kids, their ages, their personalities and attitudes towards helping out around the house. When we homeschooled, I had activities built into our day to help teach responsibility. I felt, my oldest especially, did very well with these tasks. He acclimated back into public school doing much better than when I had to pull him out. Fast forward two years. With my mom's accident a year ago, much of the responsibility of raising our children fell onto my husband. I have filled that role and not allowed him much opportunity to step in. I spent almost six months off and on next to my mom's side in ICU's and rehabs leaving my family without a mom. As things changed yet again, I am now back and full time mom to my kids. However, the difference is too much. My children are older now and I feel like it is impossible to change or instill values that should have been more constant for them. A typical day in my house involved me asking and asking and asking and asking (you get the point right?)....my children to do very basic chores over and over again. My children are 10, 5 and 2. I really thought my 10 year old would be able to put his shoes in the shoe bin by now. My five year old should be able to remember to brush her teeth at night, right? Why do I feel and sound like a broken record player? The problem for me is that I feel like I am thinking for too many people. I really would like to get to a point where my kids just know what to do. I was feeling very overwhelmed and at a loss. My husband and I spent many nights wondering what we could change so that our kids would start to be more responsible on their own. In the past, we tried sticker charts, chore charts,stick jars, money jars, bead jars, fuzzy jars, stop signs, etc. I felt like they were all good concepts, but lacked something. That lacking made them not work for long in our house. One day I was on facebook and saw a posting by my friend. She claimed her kids did their own laundry and chores without her even having to tell them. I thought, her kids are really good. Maybe they were born with extra talents that my kids did not possess. I then went out to the website of the program she used, www.accountablekids.com. I read through some of the reviews and watched a few short clips on how the program worked. I instantly knew this is what I had been looking for. The program has everything. I could not see any holes. The program is geared towards a broad age range (which I have). The whole point of the program is to teach kids to be more responsible (which is what we don't have). The kits come with boards (see my picture below) and lots of responsibility cards. My children needed a way to see and mark daily habits they are working on, not just chores. The cards help remind my kids to brush their teeth in the morning. To be on time for school. To pack their backpacks and get their clothes ready at night. All things that I previously had to remind them each and every day to do. Now I just refer them to their boards. The other part I like about the program is it has helped teach my kids to do their responsibilities then have fun. My kids tend to gravitate towards the tv and their game systems without constant supervision. After almost two months of the Accountable Kids program and they are now going to their boards themselves. They bring me a ticket when they have done their chores for that time period and ask for their break time. The program has a built in reward system. Both of my kids are highly motivated to earn their tickets and date night stars. We will soon be adding on paid jobs, something my 10 year old has been looking forward to. I no longer feel like I am thinking for them. I know what a disservice that was for my kids. I want them to learn to recognize what they need to be doing and be responsible people. Things are not perfect, but there is so much less stress and yelling in our family! On a scale of 1-5, I give this program a 5. I have read the book, watched the dvd and been able to impliment the program even with the craziness of raising four kids (yes, we had another at Christmas). I feel like we can all step by step climb this ladder towards becoming more responisible. I also was very impressed that they have a section on their website to answer questions, if there are problems with the program, and they actually answer them. They are there for support. So, what is the program? Well, go out to their website and check it out. Several friends have come to my home and asked about the boards hanging on the wall. I was all too excited to share with them and decided to share with all of you as well. Go to: www.accountablekids.com to see if the program is something you have been looking for!