Effective and Easy Reward System to Get Your Child to Listen to You

Let’s face it! We are living an unusual situation. Our kids are not used to this lifestyle and expecting them to listen to us and behave well all the time would be unrealistic. However, we can set a daily routine, (check the daily routine chart I shared on my page previously) and a reward system that actually works. .
I’m not a fan of behaviour charts because you are targeting specific behaviours that do work but for a short period of time. With this reward system you focus on the positive behaviours only and reward him for it. It works wonders in motivating your child to listen to you. Believe me I’ve tried it. . ➡️Get a jar and put a rubber band which serves the purpose of a “fill line”. Depending on their age you can make the rubber band higher or lower.
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➡️Here is how it works:
Fill your jar with cotton balls or marbles or pom poms. They get a pom pom for doing something nice or saying something kind, without prompting. The child earns pom poms for doing kind things. .
➡️Reward your child for: (examples )
🌸Listening to you and not arguing about sleeping early
🌸Sharing toys
🌸Tidying up toys
🌸keeping room tidy
🌸using good manners
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➡️When the jar is filled, empty the jar and place the pom poms in a ziplock bag. Put the jar somewhere high but they can still see. .
➡️Do we remove pom poms for a negative behaviour? Not recommended because it will take much more time to reach the rubber band, thus they won’t be motivated anymore.
Reward them on simple and positive behaviour and add a pom pom each time they do that.
Once the pom poms reach the rubber band have them choose their reward.

The Main Idea:
DO SOMETHING NICE–>> GET A pom pom
FILL YOUR JAR->> Get a reward
Inspired by: Yourmodernfamily.com

Boredom Generates Curiosity and Creativity

By Dana Saab @joyful_parenting_ https://www.instagram.com/joyful_parenting_/

Boredom generates curiosity and creativity. ⁣⁣
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But…⁣⁣
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What do I do when my kids say “I am bored” ⁣⁣
I am sure given the circumstances many of us are hearing this phrase…a whole lot! ⁣⁣
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The truth is, feeling bored is actually good for your children and for us too! ⁣⁣
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But can we take all the nagging? ⁣⁣
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No…So we try keeping them busy with activities after the other and for most of us this result with high stress levels just for the time to find and plan activities and also not to say the guilt that we get if we don’t plan activities. ⁣⁣
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Here is what I have for you. Kids need guidance even when we allow them to feel bored. ⁣⁣
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How to deal with boredom? ⁣⁣
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Tip number 1: Have your child brainstorm with you all ideas they can do when they are off their screen time. Help them come up with a number of activities they can do on their own. Have the list up on the wall in their room. ⁣⁣

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Tip number 2: And the most important one, Make sure you provide them with the space, opportunities and materials they would need. Open your mind for mess. And help them clean up after their work. ⁣⁣
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Tip number 3: Try to not give in. When you have done tips number 1 and 2 and your kids keep coming back saying “I’m bored” all you need to do is to say: “I hear you, you feel bored. Have you checked your list?”. ⁣⁣
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What suggestions do you have for your kids to do on their own?

Activity ideas your kids can do on their own:
Playdough
Slime
Reading
Creating things from used materials
Dance
Karaoke
Play musical instruments
Painting
Arts and crafts
Experiments
Transferring
Yoga
Hide and seek
Hot and cold game
Cook
Make sandwiches
Clean and organize their room
Make an obstacle course
Lego
Put on a play
Write  a script of a story
Write on their journal
Puzzles
Building games

I over think…

I  am a hard worker, perfectionist but also an over thinker. You have no idea how many sleepless nights I’ve had because of how often I over thought past or upcoming events, hurtful words being said to me or even worrying if I did the right or wrong thing towards anyone or any situation. This is absolutely exhausting, frustrating and stressful . If you are an over thinker like me, then you would know exactly what I’m talking about. 

When I set my goals for 2020, stopping myself from over thinking was one of the goals on my list. So this is what I have been doing that helped me tremendously:

1- Every time I felt that I was over thinking, I would step back look at the situation and how I am responding.In that moment of awareness is the seed of the change you want to make. 

2- Instead of focusing on all the negative things that might happen, I started visualising all the things that can go right.

3- I distract myself into happiness. I started doing the things that I love, like exercising and meditating and I’m still planning to go back to painting. 

4- I stopped waiting for perfection: This one is the most difficult for me. Being ambitious is great but aiming for perfection is unrealistic. For example instead of thinking of the list of to-do things that I haven’t done, I would change that thought and think of all the things that I have done! 

5- Be grateful: Being grateful is such a powerful emotion that I wasn’t aware of until I started practicing it. Every time I had a negative thought I would change that thought and think of all the things that are right in my life and feel grateful. 

The effects of practicing gratitude are not immediate, and they don’t appear magically. But once started, gratitude continues to impact our physical and psychological well-being for years.“It is not happiness that brings us gratitude. It is gratitude that brings us happiness.”–