The Checkout Box

This Christmas the boys got their own Nintendo DS XL.  These items were not initially on my list but shortly before our trip to Spain the DS that we owned since Christopher was four went missing along with all of the games he had. 

Wal-Mart had a good deal on Black Friday and we snagged two.  Really I didn’t want to purchase another DS and somehow we ended up with two.  It feels like rewarding them for irresponsible behavior.  On the other hand if we didn’t replace the missing DS it felt as if we were punishing Christopher for sharing with his younger brother.  Emmanuel is the last one to have the old DS in his possession and he can’t remember what he did with it. 

Fortunately, for them hubby and I were nice and purchased two new ones for Christmas. However this time around the rules have changed.  We will not purchase games or any accessories  for the DS, the boys will have to save their money to acquire these on their own.  And they will no longer be able to store the device and games in their room.  We now have a checkout box.  Yes, the checkout box idea came to me when several hours into Christmas day we had multiple  scares of items missing for the new DS’s.  You read it right, missing items that accompany the brand spanking new devices.  Not wanting to take away their new gifts because that would just be too mean, I had to come up with something fast.  The checkout box system works like the library system.  Each time any of the boys desires to use a DS they must check it out first.  We write their name and what game they are using. Once they finish with one game they have to return that game and check out another game.  The DS is inspected prior to leaving the checkout box and once it returns.  The condition it is returned in is noted on the sign out sheet. 

Hopefully this will teach them how to be better stewards of their toys.