Well, who knew, before I even printed off my Mums' Reward Chart, I actually wanted to have a go at some of the tasks I’d set myself.  The lure of the golden sticker clearly works on me!

First up, tell my husband why he's wonderful...

So, for my first attempt, I told my husband that the dinner he made us was absolutely delicious. And that he was wonderful for taking the time to cook something so complex and special for us. I managed not to mention the fact that the kitchen was a bombsite and dinner was late...

Of course he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing, and commented that yes it did mean that the kitchen was an absolute tip and we were eating an hour later than usual because it had taken so long... (I never said a WORD). But he smiled, and he laughed, and he agreed that yes it was delicious. And that was good.

And as the days wore on, I remembered lots of other reasons why my husband is wonderful. And whenever I spotted my reward chart, I remembered to tell him.

After a few days, he even started to tell me why I was wonderful too. And that was good.

Play with my kids, no phone, no distractions, nothing...

I shut down my computer and my phone and I sit on the floor with my kids. And they jump on me, obviously. And I roll onto my back, and they flump on top of me, giggling. And I sit up, and they ‘push’ me so I fall back on the floor again, laughing now, and we do it over and over again, and again, and again until we'e all squealing and I'm laughing with joy and it's the best treat I could have given myself. As well as being an excellent tummy workout...

This activity also got me crafting with the kids like a complete loony - we've been making everything you can imagine out of milk cartons - you can check out our reindeer head and an elf with exchangeable beards, and at some point I'll share our rocking sleigh, bear boat, confused pig, and Octonauts' Gup C with you all...

And my planned reward for spending quality time with the kids - an hour's crafting time! I've spent many hours crafting with them already and reminded myself that I can do that any time I want. Everything else can wait. I just need to make sure I don't get so carried away with crafting that I forget that the whole point is to spend time with my kids. Milk carton anyone?

I'm working on doing more yoga and writing a little bit too. Sadly, not much of the decluttering going on...

So far my biggest and most wonderful lesson is that the activities are themselves the rewards. Which is good.

I'd love to hear how you're getting on with your Mums' Reward Chart? (If you haven't done one yet, join in, we'd love to spur you on - mums deserve gold stars too!)

PS Big thanks to lovely MirandaA for her Fill Your Fridge Magnet above.