"Gym equipment," Jack observed, once they were all inside. "Hey, I know you're planning on building a gym with the art room, but why get this stuff now?"
"Well, we don't have everything we plan on putting into the gym, but Babsie and I thought that when Matt comes back, he might want something to work out on. He can't run," Isaac shrugged, "but he might find something to suffice until he can."
Jack nodded.
"Point taken. Do you have any idea when he will come home?"
"None," Isaac replied woefully.
There was silence for a few minutes as the two men unpacked and put together the gym equipment.
"Say, it might be none of my business," Jack said, "but I think we need another bedroom day."
Isaac gave him a thoughtful grin.
"Actually, Babsie and I have been thinking the same thing."
Bedroom day was a day that Isaac and Babsie declared at irregular intervals when they felt that a lot of the kids' bedrooms were becoming unacceptably messy, and this also included Lori's son Jordan. On such days, all plans, obligations, responsibilities and recreation were thrown out the window as soon as breakfast was over with the only exception of kitchen duties.
All the kids (and usually the adults took advantage of the day to do the same) had to straighten out their rooms to the last detail. Beds made, floors vacuumed, clear under the bed (should anything be under there) and rubbish in the bin. They had to put all their things away - neatly! One messy drawer or untidy shelf would not get them checked off. Even posters or other things stuck on walls had to be suck in an orderly fashion, but that was Babsie joking around. Usually.
Once the kids were checked off, they could go back to doing whatever they wanted (or had) to do. Even things such as school work was not permitted to be done before their room was tidy on bedroom day! Too bad if they had a major assignment due the next school day. The idea, of course, was to inspire the kids to keep their rooms neat all the time.
Once the owner or owners of a room (as the case may be) had finished they had to get one of their parents to check. Isaac had made up check lists where they wrote down the occupants' name or names, and then checked off all the things the kids had to do in their rooms. Until the list was all checked off, they had to keep at it. When they were done, Isaac or Babsie wrote down the time of completion.
In a way, bedroom day had both negative and positive incentives, for there was also a bit of a competition going with the time of completion. The kids, between themselves, liked to compete to see who could finish first. However, Isaac and Babsie had a bit of a reward thing going, based on whether they finished in the first hour, before lunch, or before dinner. Finishing in the first hour (which most likely meant that their room had been kept tidy anyway) meant that they got some sort of outing-type treat and two chore vouchers. Finishing before lunch also got you two chore vouchers. Finishing before dinner got you one chore voucher. And if you still hadn't finished before bed time, well, for you bedroom day continued into the next day until you did. If it did continue into the next day, you got a chore demerit.
Chore vouchers and chore demerits were Babsie's idea. They had a chore roster going regarding other rooms around the house and what had too be done in them, such as keeping them tidy, washing dishes, washing clothes, cleaning bathrooms and so on. If a kid was scheduled to do a chore, they could cash in the voucher so that they didn't have to, but it had to be done two days in advance, so that the roster could be changed for that day. A chore demerit was the opposite, of course, where a kid had to do extra chores. These extra chores were usually scheduled by their parents.
The older kids especially had caught onto the use of the vouchers and demerits. Especially since they started going to school, they would cash in vouchers when they had assignments or a lot of homework to do, or wanted to make plans with friends. On the other hand, sometimes they asked if they could do the extra chore or chores at a certain day or time, to get it out of the way, or make sure it wasn't in the way of their own plans. And then some kids would use a voucher to cancel out a demerit!
There was one other aspect of the reward system for bedroom day. The less bedroom days they had in a year resulted in some sort of special reward, usually an outing.
Isaac, Lori, Jack and Natalie all thought the whole system had been one of Babsie's better ideas.
"Hmm," Jack said with a nod. "I'll get some more garbage bags then."
Isaac grinned.