Over the past few weeks our sweet, lovable, HIGHLY ENERGETIC children have been, shall we say, getting on my nerves (and I mean that in the best possible way).

This condition seems to occur most often on a quiet Sunday and on a Monday night for family night. So, a few Mondays ago, we chucked the usual family night plan of discussing more effective chore completion. In a moment of pure inspiration/desperation, my husband and I announced the pending arrival of ... The SuperVisor.

I shared with the children that each child would have a zone to care for during the week. This included a quality assurance level that must be met in order to achieve the ultimate prize — Iceberg shakes. Move over Pavlov, the kids were salivating before we even hit the word shakes.

After sharing the new plan, suddenly, to our surprise, in came ... The SuperrrrrViiiiisor (think Jazz game announcer — "Are you ready to rummmmble?"; cue the background Superman music; prepare for a vision.

My willing and brave husband came flying/dancing/spasmodically moving through the room with a super cape and white visor (hence, SuperVisor), carrying a heroic grin and SuperChecklist.

In a commanding voice he outlined said chores, set the timer, and off they ran. Rather than counsel about efficient chore methods (translation: mom and dad "blah blah blah" about vital subjects and children move about the room like popcorn in the microwave), this fabulous SuperVisor showed us how to get in, get out, and get 'er done.

I was happily shocked that not only did this method work for more than one evening, we were able to stretch it out for three weeks, making those shakes a really big, gnarly deal.

For us, this kind of consistency was a major shock. But the great news was that it wasn't perfection. Some nights The SuperVisor got caught in traffic (must have been the cape), or was really worn out (all that flying at high altitude), so we were able to get SuperVisor Junior to step in (our eldest son). Of course, this replacement happened to be the most stringent of all, and was quickly replaced the next night by popular consent.

Two things were truly amazing to me about this experience. One was, at the same time, I was reading "The Influencer," authored by most notably David Maxfield. In it, he discussed the importance of narratives or other strategies to help people truly desire to create a behavior change. He shared, "Effective stories and other vicarious experiences overcome (a disconnection) flaw ... Very often people become far less willing to believe what you have to say the moment they realize that your goal is to convince them of something" which, quite naturally, is precisely what you're trying to achieve through verbal persuasion.

View Comments

The second amazing thing was how each child got behind this goofy SuperVisor concept — in their own way to be sure, but participate they did. Giving authority to our teenager turned out to be an overall positive experience; the younger ones felt more responsibility and therefore confidence; and mother got a needed break from tidying up after everyone, highly applicable since back in 1993 she stipulated that this was something she would no longer do.

Perhaps there is something in your family system that needs a bit of tweaking. Rather than sit down to a lengthy (i.e. boring) group discussion, consider shaking it up with a bit of fun. Simply look around the house for something totally annoying to do the mundane with a bit of zest. Be silly, be off the wall, be your inner fun woman/wife/mother. And you might just get a visit from the SuperVisor (hopefully toting a cheesecake. ...)

LIFETip: Think for 2 minutes one way you can make a FUN change in a family system; enlist the help of those around you!


E-mail: info@LIFEChangeProgram.com

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.