Want to encourage more positivity around your home--kind words, helpful actions, listening to Mom and Dad?
Try a positivity jar. Here's how it works.
1. Get a bag of dry beans of any type--put them in a basket or container.
2. Take an empty glass jar and put it somewhere easily visible.
We keep ours on top of the living room armoire.
3. Children can "earn" beans by saying something positive, choosing kindness, listening the first time, counting by two's--really anything you decide is bean-worthy!
4. What the positivity jar isn't.
Here's the bit I love--Before when I had heard about jars/ideas like this, it was always with an idea of a reward for the kids--"When the bean jar is full, we'll get ice cream, buy a toy, etc." This seemed like bribing to me and I wanted to encourage a different motivation for making right choices.
5. Each bean is worth 10 cents.
When the bean jar is full, tally up all the beans and let your kids donate the money to a charity of their choice--their kind actions benefit others!
Last week was the first time we filled our jar, and when we counted them all up - the kids had earned $70 to donate! That's a lot of money to little people, and they were proud of their efforts. We gave the money to Love146 - helping to free children from slavery.
6. Rinse and repeat!
Now we've started over again with an empty jar, and look forward to filling it over the next few months. I gathered my ideas for bean jars from the books Leadership Education and Calm and Compassionate Children - then I tweaked the concept to best fit our unique needs at home. I hope you'll give it a try, too!
"Children learn what they live.
If a child lives with criticism... he learns to condemn.
If he lives with hostility... he learns to fight.
If he lives with ridicule... he learns to be shy.
If he lives with shame... he learns to be guilty.
If he lives with tolerance... he learns confidence.
If he lives with praise... he learns to appreciate.
If he lives with fairness... he learns about justice."
~ Dorothy Nolte
