It’s good to be king.
A few weeks ago I got this brilliant awesome potentially idiotic idea. I decided at the end of summer I was going to allow each child the chance to make the decisions for our household for the entire day. They would have the opportunity to pick our meals and activities for 12-14 hours. A would get a day and Miss E. would get a day.
There would be a few exceptions, of course. I would still get to the gym and there would still be quiet time. They couldn’t eat candy all day nor could they lounge in front of the televsion. If they acted out, they would still be disciplined, but they choose the method. Everything else was up for grabs.
The idea came to me when I heard myself say “Because I’m in charge” one too many times. My kids are BIG into asking questions and while I’m not a fan of “because I said so” sometimes it’s just fact. And I think it’s important that kids feel they have ownership of certain things or activities. It is/was my hope that it would help them think about their actions and choices.
So yesterday was A’s day to be “king” of the household.
We got off to a bad start. His first decision of the day (other than eating Kix for breakfast) was to choose to go to his room or get a privilege taken away. He chose his room and stomped up the stairs in tears.
For lunch, he picked macaroni and cheese and for quiet time, he chose to play games and watch videos on my iPhone. Our day was going much more “normally” than I would have thought.
When it came to activities, etc. I told him we had $20. I know he has no concept of how far $20 goes, but I wanted him to understand that being in charge comes with responsibilities. I can’t spend money haphazardly and neither can he. He could choose to do many things with the money – go out to eat, have snacks somewhere, go to an activity like a museum or a fun park. But when the money was gone, it was gone.
After quiet time, he decided he wanted to go get ice cream and go to a local bounce house. So we packed up and hit up Goodberry’s (his choice) and he got a mini Mint flavored concrete and Miss E got a cup of vanilla. Then we hit up Coconut Charlie’s Bump & Bounce (official write-up coming up on the blog!) and spent a good two hours.
By the time we left, the kids were pooped!
After we finished up dinner (pepperoni pizza of course), he looked up at his dad with a grin and said, “Can we play Disney Infinity?” The normal answer would have been no, but how could you say no to the King? They ended up playing some motorcycle racing game before getting ready for bed.
He ended his reign by picking out both our bedtime stories.
When I asked him his favorite part of the day, can you guess what he said? Ice cream, of course.
Overall our day wasn’t that much out of the ordinary, but all the decisions were his and his alone. I think my little experiment went better than expected and worth doing a few times a year (birthdays, reward for good behavior, etc).
Today is Miss E’s day. At three, she doesn’t quite get the concept but she likes knowing she’s the “boss”. I’m trying to supply her with lots of ideas so we don’t have an entire do-over of yesterday. Macaroni and Cheese is her favorite food.
So far, she’s said she wants to go to the mall. I can totally get down with that.
“As you wish, your majesty!”
That is a fun idea, but I don’t think I am brave enough to let my kids take over for a day. In our house it would mean candy & ice cream for all meals and video games ALL.DAY.LONG.
That’s why I laid the ground rules. Mommy doesn’t get to sit around eating bon-bons and reading a book, therefore no candy and no TV all day for them either. But he got to make all the major choices – meals (had to include healthy things) and activities.
King for a Day sounds like a fun idea. I’d do it when my son gets a little older and has some clue about what that means but my daughter would love it.
I think my 5 year old daughter already thinks she is Queen everyday…but I love this idea of giving the kids their own special day from start to finish.
What a fun idea for the kids! I can’t even imagine what my girls would have us doing, but I know that $20 would either be spent in two seconds, or they would never quite settle on an idea.
Love the idea!! Kids WAY too young yet, but definitely something to file away for later!
Crazy fun idea. Emily would pick Dave and Busters for sure because I keep saying no every day that she asks! Ice cream is always a win-win. Can’t wait to hear what happened at the bounce houses!
I love this idea and I think at the ages of 8 and 10 1/2, it would be interesting to see how my kids chose what to do on their day when they were in charge! Thanks for the great idea and definitely tucking this away for next summer when I’ve uttered “Because I’m in charge” too often!
Super cute idea! We do something similar on birthdays. Our daughter is only 3 but her birthday she gets to pick everything. Same on my and my husbands birthdays. All meals, activities– its feels good to be in charge!