Love it!!

This is a really good idea. You just have to be diligent about changing the wifi password every day though.

When I was a kid and passwords were changed that I wanted to get around, I just installed a keystroke recorder on the home computer.

I thought it was a great idea until I mentioned it to my husband, and he pointed out that we have three computers and four devices that use wi-fi. It would take us all day to get around to switching all the passwords (only to start over again the next day).

We have used this as a longer term thing with our oldest. She could still access the internet from our main computer for homework and other things, but not from her laptop in her bedroom. She's 19 now though. Changing the password daily would probably be more feasible if you only had a shared family computer, and maybe a couple of phones to do.

@alahoop

You could also just set the password back to the original once the chores were done.

Or, you could also block certain MAC addresses from accessing the network and just disable the block once they completed their chores. This way your computer/phone/tablet can stay connected and just block our your kid's access. You can also turn it on for just one (if they did their chores and the other(s) didn't)!

Sounds like a lot of extra work to get your kids to help out, though!

It seems easier to hang on to the handheld devices until the chores are done. It also seems more personal than posting a sign and turning off the wifi from another room.

This would stop me for all of two seconds. My macbook has an ethernet port.

This is the stuff that TERRIFIES me about being a mother.

You mean, I have to trick them into doing chores? No thanks.

I'll stay solo and walk the dog myself!

Lower tech option: lock the tablets, laptops, etc. in a closet :)

@alahoop - you could set up a Guest network on your router for the kids and their devices to use and just make one final change to the main wifi network's password that the adults and the adult devices will continue to run on (just be sure that the kids never find out what the main network's password is and lock down those computers with passwords so they can't just jump on them instead). Guest networks are designed for temporary access and easily kicking folks off once their time is up, so changing the password on that one won't disrupt the main network at all.

I like Katalyst's option.

I think if I had to get a phone for my child, I'd get the ugliest, least bells-and-whistles, model possible. Hard lately considering that even the crappiest "dumb phone" has a camera these days.

I don't think that kids need cell phones at all except for the same reasons I used to use a pay phone, to call Mom or Dad to come pick me up when I was done with whatever activity I'd gottent dropped off at. Problem is that working pay phones are becoming rare - either they've been removed or vandalized. That and a local call is now $0.50 in my neck of the woods, as I've found out when I got stuck at the train station without my cell phone.

Heck, if I could just give the kids a phone that could only dial me, I'd do it. Will have to look into that!

Not doing your chores? That's a paddlin'

@Dragynphyre--my nieces and nephews share a cell phone. It is an old, duct-taped-together phone that one of their parents used to use. When they go off to Girl Scouts or soccer practice or swim lessons, they get to take it along, just for emergencies.

Somewhere out there there's a phone just for kids where you can program in 5 or 10 numbers for the kid to call, and that's all they can do.

@Dragynphyre - Prepaid cell phones are a good option. Most of them are dumbphones and you can buy as many minutes as needed. They can't make calls if they don't have minutes.

Dragynphyre - At least as of a couple years ago, there were some kids phones where all they had were a couple buttons that you could program for "home phone", "Mom's Cell", "Dad's Cell", and I think it might have also had 911. So there are options out there for that sort of thing, but I think they are targeted to very young kids.

I wish someone would do this for me, so that I could get my own chores done. And I'm the adult in the house.

When my stepson was in middle school, he had an old computer that didn't come with a wifi installed. We bought him a USB wifi adapter. All we had to do to ground him from the net was confiscate the adapter.

Naw. I don't have to. My kids are still young enough to listen when I tell them "Chores, then computer."

Uhg, this reminds of me of my old roommate/landlord who would disable the internet when his 18-year old son was being a jack@ss. I wouldn't be able to access the internet myself and felt like I was being punished as well.

I don't understand this. Where's the parent while the kid is supposed to be doing chores? If parents are around, they should be able to say "hey, vacuum before games." If the parents aren't home, why wouldn't a kid just text them "okay, done, now give me the password" and goof around first anyway?

Carrotsticks, I agree. I thought it seemed like a lot of work too! I do like Amanda's guest network idea though.

My oldest is 19 and has her own laptop, phone (not smart) and iPod touch. The younger two (rarely) use the desktop and our phones, so it's not really an issue with them yet. When my 19 year old was younger, all we had was a desktop (and it didn't have wi-fi) and landline phone, so I don't really know what we'll do when the little ones are older and it's more of an issue. This seems like it could work though.

Token Timer is a good solution. It hooks up to the power cord for things like the TV, Xbox, or router. Then you hand out tokens as an allowance reward, and each token allows 35 min of power.

Hahaha @BAMBIJO, I'm with you! I have zero willpower when it comes to the damn internet!

When I saw this on Pinterest I thought it was a great idea. Not quite as sure now that I've read the comments here. I think locking all the gadgets away would actually be more of a pain than just changing the password. You'd have to take them all from them every night before bed. However, that could actually help the adults if you put everything in the house in a locked closet before bed and opened it only after chores got done. I know I would get more sleep and have a much cleaner house if I locked up my internet after 10 PM.

I learned that you could reset the WiFi Router when I was ten… I still don't think my parents realized this.

Innovative, yes. Practical for the tech-minded household? Definitely not. If my kiddo wants rewards, he does the chores. If he goes behind my back before he's done his chores, he loses the rewards and more. Keep in mind he's only five years old and knows this.

A tip: keep a basket that they have to put the controllers and handhelds into at night. The basket gets put away until all chores are done. More than one kid in the house? All the better. Peer pressure is an amazing thing to get all the kids to do their part. As long as one kid isn't doing everything while the others laze about, of course. If that's the case, then the productive child gets a handheld in the living room while the other catches up.

This is a great idea.

Especially great if you have a router that can do "guest network". You can set one up for yourselves, and one for the kids/guest. You can change that password frequently with out having to change your password.

I also think this is a good ideal but an even better ideal... condoms. ;)

really, @piewacket?

It's a joke, but I do believe parenting is not for everyone and I fully admit to being one of those people.

I've just turned off the power on the surge protector/adaptor and they weren't sure what happened. I told them I'd check the computer once all chores were done. Lots easier than shifting passwords.

It just baffles me how here,in America, parents have to reward their kids to do shit they are supposed to be doing (chores, homework, etc..) and in other countries some kids don't even have to be told! You people are raising ADULTS not kids! Some of us, who have parents that actually PARENTED, have to put up with spoiled little brats that think they should be rewarded for doing what they were hired to do in the first place. There aren't any gold star stickers in the real world people!

I'm guessing @gaby.ferrera does not have children.

I don't think it's about rewarding your kids, I think it's about saying "hey, if you want to enjoy the benefits of living in this household (like wifi you don't pay for), you have to contribute to the running of the household." Pretty sure that's called parenting.

Well, if there is a better argument for staying screenless than this post, I haven't seen it. This is like keeping your kids from climbing onto the dining table by unscrewing the legs from the dining room chairs.

My kids are not teens yet, but I'm assuming the same thing currently keeping them off the table is what will keep them from sinking hours into the internet later: me.

P_Capucine, staying screenless is more like keeping your kids from climbing on the table by...not having a table.

I don't think the goal here is limiting screen time. The goal is providing motivation for the kids to get chores done. As a means to that end, it's a pretty damn good one.

I am all about this Token Timer for myself. I am with @BambiJo I don't get anything done because of the internet :p I even gave myself a sticker chart once and I still failed at life :p

Honestly, I hate this idea. First, I'm too lazy to keep changing a password every.single.day. Second, I think the idea of bribing kids to do work around the house does not teach any positive lesson. All it teaches is that their time spent helping around the house is only worth something if they're being "paid" to do it. Is it really too much work to sit down with your kids and ask THEM to help solve the problem of divvying out chores? And explain to them that, as the parent, you aren't being paid for the job, so what is their rationalization for getting a reward? (And seriously, openly listening to them when they answer, not just asking in a rhetorical sense.) What about natural consequences? Why not make them responsible for chores that impact them directly, such as their laundry? There are far better, more respectful solutions than this ridiculous gimmick.

I find that most methods like these (Parental controls being a common one) tend to backfire. I know someone who in response to tech "rationing" set up Parental controlls on his parents computer. So how about just talking with your kids/teenagers about helping out so everyone can live in a nice clean house?

when we were kids, we did chores because our parents told us to.

I don't get why any extra incentive is necessary to get someone to make their bed. Then again, I'm a long way from having kids, so maybe I'll figure it out eventually.

There were three of us, and sometimes, my mom would ask us to do a one-person chore, like moving the laundry along. We'd sit around for a minute, looking at each other, staring and pointing fingers to decide who had to do it. Finally, one of the three would concede. My clever mama would then assign harder chores to the other two.

We learned quickly.

@Strikermary, I am totally filing that away for future use.

Here is an idea for the multiple devices shared by wifi challenge. Simple take the power cord from the router and lock it up until the chores are done. If you are not home, hide it in a different place each day and have the kids call or text for the location.