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I hope everyone had a great weekend! My baby had her kindergarten shots on Wednesday and had a terrible reaction to them, which turned the end of my week upside down a bit. Friday I snuggled her, literally, from 8 am to 3 pm, except for that time I fell asleep and she woke me up with “Mom, I organized your room, bathroom, and closet for you! It is sparkling clean!” Scariest.Words.Ever. And yep, the next time I tried to get myself showered and dressed – I could not find anything she “put away” for me. At least it made her smile!
She is doing much better! And so life resumesĀ Ā …
I wanted to take the time to share one of my best mom tricks. First of all, the reason this came about was that I felt like I was getting my kids in trouble a lot more than I was appreciating them for the things they did right. Maybe not actually, but really, even if I encouraged just a much as I corrected, the corrections are what stand out to them. The lowest point was when my 6 year old wrote me a note “I’m sorry you are always mad at me.” Ugh. Not good!
After I read that note and took a few deep breaths,Ā the mantra repeated in my mind “Don’t agonize. Organize.”Ā What I needed was a new plan, something to shift the dynamic of discipline, to make the encouragement be more obvious in their minds than the {necessary} correction.
That is when it came to me: The Do-Good Frozen Yogurt Fund.
It is just a regular mason jar, with a card stock paper with a coin slot cut into it for a lid. I hot glued the paper and ribbon to the jar as well. All stuff I already had around the house!
This has been incredibly helpful to us. We are working as a team, toward the common goal of frozen yogurt. My kids love the frozen yogurt store more than any other treat (I think because they get to pick their own toppings), so this has been truly motivating.
When I started looking for them, I found more and more good things my girls were doing. And as they were appreciated for them, more and more things started popping up. I’d say that each child gets about a quarterĀ each day. Not so much that they expect it EVERY time they do something good, but enough so that they feel like we are recognizing them for being good. When we fill up the jar, we go out to get frozen yogurt as a family, which is just another thing to bring us closer together.
I’ve kept that note as a reminder and it still breaks my heart to think of it, but now I’ve got a planĀ to NOTĀ beĀ the mom who always seems mad. And that feels good.
What do you think? What do you do to bring out the best in your children?
Have a great week!
From my home to yours,
Mary
brilliant. starting this today. on the upside, frozen yogurt is a non-fate treat, so i don’t feel bad eating it…..not that i’d really feel too bad eating full fat, creamy ice cream but this is better! š
Maybe I can time filling the jar up with the next school spirit night at Orange Leaf … of course, since I like frozen yogurt too, I might just be punishing myself. I can’t wait to see your jar, I bet it would rock the socks off of mine.
What a great idea. I totally hear you about not being the “mad” mom! I find that we have good weeks and not so good weeks. I love this! And I love the pics of your bedroom too. It looks very peaceful…but also bright and cheery at the same time. Lovely.
Thanks, Jen! And man, my legs are still feeling the burn from our workout this morning. I may not be able to move tomorrow!
Such a great idea!! Totally stealing this one!
Love this idea!! (And the pretty jar š ). You are seriously the best mom ever!
Thank you, Julie. Any compliment from you is so meaningful to me, because I think you are so awesome!
I am so impressed – you are a GREAT Mom – one might say a SUPERMOM! Thanks for the idea to share with my grandchildren so I am NOT the cranky granny!
I could never imagine you as the cranky granny! Fun and feisty granny, definitely. Cranky? Never!
Thanks for the great idea! Finding good ways to motivate kids is always an interesting topic. I can’t say that I have any good ideas to contribute. Sometimes, when I’d like them to clean up, we play “robot” where they are my robots, and they do what I say–they think it’s fun now, but I can’t see it lasting too long. I like your idea better. How long does it take them to fill up the jar?
I love the robot idea! Maybe it will last a lot longer … one can hope, right?
As for the jar, it takes 3-4 weeks to fill it up. The girls love it so much. I hope this jar thing lasts at least until I can think of something else!
Do you use a combined jar or 1 for each?
Combined jar, because we go out as a family. š
Aww. Thank you for this. I love the idea. I got the same note too, so this hit home real hard for me. I will do this and see if it will help with my girls.
Good luck!