I am an only child.
Growing up I was an absolute angel (that statement might be a little biased).
My parents used logic and reason to solve problems with me.
I figured I would use that same parenting style when I had kids of my own.
Then I had kids of my own.
I wasn’t aware of this phenomenon called sibling rivalry.
I have seen it turn angelic little faces in to calculating little demons.
There are many benefits to having siblings (most of which I’m convinced aren’t realized until adulthood).
In an “attempt” (ahem) to restore a little order to the delicate balance of life with brothers I reintroduced a spin on my “Kindness Card“.
If I would have seen this pre-children I would have thought it a silly bribery system.
3 boys later and I’m fully endorsing bribery as a system for good behavior.
Any little tactic or game that I came come up with to get my kid’s focus off the rivalry will be fully considered.
I created these cards in less than 10 minutes with the help of my ZINK hAppy printer.
The printer uses zero ink. The technology to do that is in the special adhesive paper. Plus you can design and print from your tablet or phone.
Spoiler alert: Come back on Monday where I’ll be giving a ZINK hAppy printer away! (Or if you don’t want to wait, go here to purchase).
It has been said you can change your kids behavior by catching them in the act of doing good.
My hope is that this little system will help reinforce good deeds and positive acts of kindness.
Plus there’s a reward once a kid gets all their punches.
I filled these boxes with little things.
A pack of bubble gum, a box of firecracker poppers, a pack of baseball cards…
Amazing how a surprise, mystery gift will cause a boy to go out of his way to help his brother tie his shoes or make his bed.
Don’t forget, come back Monday where I’ll be giving away a ZINK hAppy printer!
You can download my previous Good Behavior card here.
There’s also a cute one on eighteen25 blog.
Hey there! I’m Michelle; I’m an Passionate DIY’er and in constant pursuit of how to bring beauty to my house full of men (3 boys + 1 hubby). Stick around and see what I’ve got up my hard-working sleaves!
What a great idea! I have 4 children, who are now tweens and teens. When they were little, I was the crazy woman with 4 under 4. I learned very quickly that the more ways you can reinforce the positive, the better. I gave my praise verbally because I am waaaaaaaaay too lazy to produce this kind of thing. The sentiment, however, is exactly the same!!
I actually think this might be more effective on my children now they’re older. They’ll do anything for a Froyo!!
I hear ya sis-tah! Too funny about Froyo! I’m with that too! Thanks!
Just make sure you hide the hole punch really well 🙂
Hillarious! You’re sooo right! 🙂
Great idea! I have a 6 year old boy and a 5 year old girl. Whenever I catch them being anything other then nice to each other I make them hold hands until they are playing and laughing with each other. They have to do everything without letting go of each other, eating, cleaning, everything! Once they “love” each other again I make them each say something nice about the other or something they love about them and then they have to give kisses and hugs. It has worked like a charm every single time!!
I LOVE that idea. I think I’m going to try it. Thanks for the tip! 🙂
This is so cool! I want a Zink now 🙂 Great ideas!
Cheers,
Heather @ http://www.larkandlola.com
Yes, I love my Zink hAppy printer! Thanks!
What a brilliant idea! Where did you find those number tags?
Aren’t those cool!? They are zink metal numbers. I found them at http://www.afineline-tucson.com/. They are in Tucson, AZ but I know they can most likely ship them to you if you ask. Just tell them you saw them on my blog. Thanks! 🙂
Wow! This is my first time to look at your blog and I was immediately hooked. I love your style and your creativity. Mostly, though, I identify with being an only child and now the mother of 3 children. Two boys and a surprising girl (she was only surprising because we were totally convinced she would be another boy – my husband is the youngest of 4 boys and they all had boys). I will never forget the look on my mother’s face when my oldest son was Tasmanian Devling through the house one day and she stared then calmly said “Well. I don’t know how you deal with that. You never acted like that.” Which was awesome because now my husband believes that I was never any trouble and all our children’s wild behaviors is inherited from him and his own notorious feral childhood.
Anyway, I love this idea! I know my boys are particularly motivated by this kind of system. Now I’ll have to see if I can win one of these printers! 😉
I LOVE IT! You just go ahead letting your husband think that! I have been convinced that I was an angel child my whole life but really, it was because I never had an competition with siblings. Now that I have three and see how kids interact with each other I’m sure I would have been much different with siblings. Thanks for you comment! Hope you’ll keep coming back. P.S. I love your email…”FancyNancy”. Hugs!
THAT’S BRILLIANT…thank you for this post. I’ve been looking for something like this to help with the chores in the house, and what better way to get them to pick up after themselves *and* do a chore. I’m implementing that tonight!! I wonder if this will work on husbands too!
Thanks Nicole! It’s been working great for our kids…hasn’t worked so well on my husband but let me know how it works for yours…he! he! Cheers, Michelle
Love this idea! I might use this to as means for him to control his angry behavior. I get depressed knowing my 5 year old son hit someone at school. This will also be useful for helping with chores. Thanks so much!