I have been struggling with my kids behavior. It has gotten worse since preschool got out and the hotter temps are keeping my kids inside more. It was so bad that one day, by lunchtime, each was in timeout at least 5 times. So I thought hard trying to come up with a behavior chart and the smiley face cards were created. My kids love it and it has really helped our house be more loving. I drew the smile on one side and a frown on the other. The kids got to pick out the eyes for each face. On top is each child's name in case it gets taken off of fridge. They all start with smiles and have to have at least 1 smile by the time dinner is over to get the treat for the day. The treat could be as simple as marshmallows or ice cream or an outing such as playing at the park or going to McDonald's the next day for lunch. My kids are easy to please. If they decide to not a make a good choice, they have to turn their smile to a frown. They can easily earn that smile back by doing something extra nice or going the extra mile in helping me. I wanted it to be more of a teaching lesson to help my kids physically see what it means to be nice and mean. Now granted, I have a 4 and 2 year old, so this works great, but as they get older, I already have better behavior chart in mind for them. But this works perfect for us right now. So far so good, both kids have gotten their reward every day. Today might be an exception, because since taking those pictures 30 min. ago, Kylee only has 1 smile left.
And Drew created this smile for me the day we started, because he was mad at me for some reason and thought I needed a smile and frown card. That day, he turned my card to a frown!
2 comments:
That's great Amy! I hope it keeps working. That's the whole trick with parenting; you find something that works but after a while it wears off and you have to come up with something new.
My struggle for the summer is keeping the kids off the Wii; I am honestly glad they have it so there's something for them to do - especially when I have to be busy doing my own stuff. They go to swim team every morning so at least they're getting some exercise, but after that the Wii is on and between the four of them all taking turns (or playing together), the Wii hours really add up around here... the good news is they're not fighting when they're playing it so maybe it's not such a bad thing! :)
That's a great idea for those little ones!! I love that Drew made one for you....Hilarious!
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