• I love positive reinforcement. I love the way it makes me feel when I find good things to talk to my kids about. Our whole day goes by much smoother if we focus on what they are doing right, instead of what they are doing wrong. Don’t get me wrong, if they do something bad that is worth talking about, we do. However, I try my best to point out their good behaviors.

    When I really focus on this I notice that a bad day can quickly turn into a good one. To help with this, we have a jar for each of our kids. It is the “good jar.” When they do something nice, helpful, sweet, or whatever good deed it may be I put a marble in the jar.

    My kids want their jars filled, and they want them filled fast. When they get their jars totally full they get to go out for ice cream with mommy or daddy. By themselves. My kids think that this is a super great treat.

    You will need to make sure that your container is big enough that your kids can’t fill it up in an hour. You also don’t want it to take so long to fill up that your kids get bored with the idea and give up. The rewards don’t have to be as “big” as ice cream either. We have also had great success with things bought at the dollar store. Usually I will grab a few items to keep here at home. When a jar is filled they can shop in mummy’s stash. The trick is to find whatever motivates your kids the best.

    Another thing to consider, is that when your kids do misbehave those marbles can come out of the jar too. Give it a try and see what kind of good behaviors your kids keep up.