Animal Encounters

I was thinking yesterday that I should share some of my animal encounters is Australia. I was taking groceries out of the car last night in the dark and remembered the time a gecko had gotten into the car and was running around our feet. Poor gecko, but it freaked me out. I couldn't put my feet down until I knew it was gone. I remember stopping with the family somewhere to try to find it and shoo it out. We couldn't find it and finally had to just drive around with it in the car for a few days before it found its way out.

The next one I remember is a cockroach. There are many cockroaches here. I often wake up in the middle of the night and open a drawer in the kitchen only to find a disgusting little creature staring back at me. They used to really scare me, but now I just get out a shoe (my weapon). It seems to help if we keep things really clean and remember to take the trash out at night. One of my first encounters with these pests, it actually flew into my hair. I had never and never since have seen one fly, but I assure you they do fly and one got stuck in my hair. Frightening experience.

The next was a magpie. Magpies can be frightening during the spring when they are nesting. They swoop on unsuspecting victims seemingly for no cause at all. Ethan got swooped by the same bird every time he passed its tree riding to Aviation High on his bike. The bird would eye him as he approached and they would have a bit if a showdown. Ethan would ride as quickly as he could past. Once he had passed, the bird would swoop down on him, hitting his helmet violently. He gave up riding shortly after that. I got swooped once walking home with the boys from the car service centre. I had on a hat so it didn't get a chunk from my head, but still frightening.

One of my favorite animals are the kookaburras. I love hearing their laugh. Sometimes they get going in the morning. It's such a pleasant sound to wake up to. Much better than the crows, who we hear frequently too, outside the window. I've been known to throw things at them when they get up with the sun around 4 am in the summer.

The bush turkeys are funny. When we first got here there were two that lived in our backyard. I named them Verne and Shirley. They messed up all the wiring for the lights on the pool by building their nests. They push all the scrub up into big piles to nest. They had a bunch of baby turkeys that were fun to watch. At one point, we had left the door open and then left the house for the day, closing the door and locking it. Apparently, one of the turkeys had come in when the door was open and had enjoyed a day in our house. We found him in Ashlee's closet. Ethan and I cornered him and put a basket over him and took him outside with his brothers. We haven't seen the turkeys in a while.

After the turkeys disappeared, we started seeing tails disappearing underneath the house. At first, I thought we had a huge snake, but one time when I was out in the garden, I spied two huge lizards. They were actually blue-tongued skinks. They didn't bother us too much so we decided they could be our new pets. They disappeared once it got cold. I wonder if they'll be back this summer?

We also have several bats. They are fruit bats with maybe 3 ft wing spans. They hang in the palm trees and talk all night. They sound something like children chattering. It's not an annoying sound at all. They are sort of funny, although they make a huge mess and their droppings are extremely sticky.

Possums are creatures of the night. I'm pretty sure they are the ones that always got to my vegetable garden and took anything that might have grown. Sometimes, they'll run on top of the roof and they are quite noisy. It sounds like a large dog.

We also found a python once in our tree. The kids were playing in the front yard when I heard Ashlee say. "Hey guys, look at the snake." She was pretty unconcerned, but I rushed out knowing what kinds of snakes might be lurking. It was a green python and we looked up all sorts of information about them. It was just a baby and they are relatively safe at that size.

Robert once found a Huntsman spider in a suitcase as he was opening it to prepare for a trip. The bag had been under the house and he had brought it upstairs to pack. He was so startled, he fell over. It was pretty funny actually.

I was doing some laps in our pool last summer, when the crows started making an awful ruckus. I looked up on our pool fence and there were two tawny frog-mouthed owls. They were the ugliest creatures I had ever seen and I was quite frightened until the crows started picking on them. They didn't really fight back and I suddenly felt very sorry for them. Those poor birds were so ugly, nobody wanted them around. What a way to live.

Robert's uncle Roy lives in Wacol, out by Ipswich, a little way out of town. He is opposite a large forest. Last year, when we were over visiting, we saw a huge kangaroo just opposite his house. He just stood and stared at us.

Another bird I really like are the rainbow lorikeets. They are beautiful and they are very chatty. They like to hang out in the big trees next to Chermside shopping Centro. Especially at twilight, they all are chatting in the trees. I always imagine the conversations they are having and make up words for them. They are really funny.

The most recent animal encounter was with a duck. I was sitting in the front room with a couple of friends and could hear noises coming from the fireplace. When I looked in, there was a sooty duck staring back at me. My brave friend tried to pull him out to no avail. I gave him a little water and called the Animal Rescue Unit. They finally showed up several hours later and rescued the poor thing.

The Value of Work

So, I've tried many schemes in the past to help my children appreciate work and money. I think it's important to teach children the value of work along with how to handle finances. Here is a list of some of my past schemes. Some have been more successful than others:

1. Money for chores - As the kids did their chores, I would give them some money. We tried it at one point to have them finish their chores by a certain time. This got really confusing though when I didn't have the money handy, couldn't figure out if they really earned it, and tried to help them break out tithing and savings from it. Also, I found that some days they would just decide they didn't need the money so they just wouldn't do their chores.

2. Money for extra chores - Same as above. I like this a little better, however, because there are certain chores that should be completed as an expectation for living in a family. The extra chores are for when a child has completed all the required chores and would like something extra to do for money. I still have "Money Chores" anytime one of the kids would like to take me up on it. The only problem I have had with this is that most of the time the kids aren't willing to do the extra chores until the hour they need the money. I keep thinking they will learn to do the extra chores when they don't have money when they need it. Not yet. Drat!

3. Allowance - I stopped this when the kids started coming and demanding money from me. I didn't like the idea of them having an allowance without strings attached. They were also starting to act a little spoiled.

4. Contract - This was a great idea for my older kids. I have one that is in a very demanding school. He is not able to work because of the required homework, so we worked out a contract for him of things he needed to do around the home to earn a certain amount of money each week. The idea was that he was going to start paying for his own haircuts, gifts for others, school activities, social activities and other things that would come up. We paid all school fees for him, but he was to give us a set amount each month to cover those expenses as well. It was a great idea but totally failed as he just decided some days to not do some of his chores. Thus, it was difficult to decide if we should still give him a portion of the allowance, and how much to give him.

5. Fraction payments linked to chores - This is the newest scheme I have come up with. I put together a chart. I know you can buy charts that are already squared up, but I just took a posterboard and a yardstick and made my own boxes. Basically, there are certain required things that the children must do, non-negotiable. I've included them on my chart because if they do them with a cheerful attitude they get a point. For each of the assignments, I have decided how many points can be accumulated per week. I add up all the points at the end of the week, divide it by the total amount of points available, then multiply that by the amount the child would earn if they have all the points for the week. This way, I am able to pay a fair price for the chores they do cheerfully. I also keep it up next to the kitchen, where I can monitor it. In the past, we've tried putting charts up on kid's doors, and they tend to get forgotten. (I can't be bothered to walk from room to room with stickers.) This is much more efficient as they just tick off the box if they accomplish it in the day. For my children over 12, they are required to tick their own boxes for the day. That way, there is some responsibility. When the day is over, I lock in their points, so we don't have kids coming back at the end of the week saying, "Well, on Tuesday, I finished my piano." The only issue I have found with this system is that the kids might think I'm paying them to do their regular chores, practicing and homework. I have tried to make it clear that it is a packaged deal. There are certain things that are expected in the family, and if they complete those things, they receive an allowance. If they don't, they get docked. In addition, they are expected to pay a tithe on their earnings, put some into savings and pay for gifts for friends and family and any social activities.

So, this is how the math works. Ethan has the potential to earn $30 per week and has 42 points possible. If he completes 30 points, I divide 30/42 = .71. So he earns 71% of the $30. The equation here is .71*30 = $21.43. I told them I will always round down to the nearest dollar. So, he earns $21 for that week. I hope that makes sense.

Here is a picture of my amazing chart!

Let me know if any of this is helpful and other ideas you have for teaching kids the value of work and money. I think it's important to change things up frequently with chore charts and allowance schemes. Kids generally get a little excited if there is a new program started at home. So, have fun with it. I have found that even though kids complain about doing chores around the home, they are generally cheerful once the chores are completed. Service also tends to breed love, because service is love. When my kids are helping out, they aren't always loving and happy, but I always find it interesting that on the days I have been the most critical about their assignments are the days they come back and shower me with hugs and kisses and "I love you's". Is that weird?