One Simple Trick That Changed my Child’s Attitude for the Good!
The house has been invaded with Aliens. Small creatures with attitude and eye rolls. It’s as if all of a sudden my sweet angel was abducted and replaced by a snarky heavy breathing grumpy kid.
I took one look at my situation and knew this needed to change.
This habit we got into, negative emotions and snappy tones, were getting under my skin. I will not raise a disrespectful child. I told myself.
Scrolling through Pinterest, I came across this thing I thought was just an art project
But it was so much more! A KINDNESS JAR.
Not a new idea but one I thought would get us back in the habit of thinking about others. Putting others first and ultimately taking back my sweet child who once thought of others first and gave freely.
I was sick of attitudes and entitlement and if you’re reading this, I’m sure you are too.
Here is what happened on day one!
Oh, mom, can I help you with that? Let me get that for you brother. That’s a nice drawing…. it went on and on until we filled our jar. My son was so excited to put cotton balls into the jar it was adorable and for a moment I thought, this is amazing.
And it was amazing except one thing. It needed rules!
Like what kind of “act” gets a ball? And, are we going to have a prize?
We decided that the kind act must be done without being asked. And once you fill the line with balls/poofs you can trade-in for a small sugar treat.
Sugary snacks also had made head in our home, something I said would never happen. But anyhow it did and now I’m killing two birds with one stone.
The only way my kiddos can have a sweet treat is if they fill the kindness jar. Win-win!
The point for me really is getting them in the habit of thinking about kind acts daily and how they can cheer up someone else’s day. It feels great to make others feel great and I want that for them.
However, there is one caveat here our system is still being tweaked. For example, In order for this to work you need to be consistent and let them put the ball in the jar. It’s a satisfaction thing.
Also, as I was writing this, my son came up with a brilliant idea. He said, “Mom let’s write down the kindness acts and put those in the jar instead. This way we can read them when we have a certain count.” Brilliant!
This turned out to be a game-changer!
He loves hearing about the good he did and he is self-motivated to keep going!
I wish you luck if you choose to join us in this new venture. It’s been a success so far and I’m sure it will be for you too.
Here is a list of materials, many, I’m sure you already have on hand.
cotton balls, or colored poofs (I recommend these for older kids because they are smaller, therefore, needing to have more acts of kindness to fill it up.)
Cotton balls for littles. Or like us strips of paper to write the act of kindness down.
Good Luck Momma!
Stephanie
