The best parenting idea I have ever come across..

Here's the thing...I LOVE my kids. They are the best part of my life and perfect in my eyes of course. BUT, and it's a big but - being a mom is by no means easy and both of my girls like to test me in different ways. My youngest ( who just turned 3 ) loves to stick her tongue out at me and go 'na-na-na-na' , or when I am telling her not to do something she will say ' blah-blah-blah ' and shake her little bum ( it is so cute that its hard not to laugh - but its her way of giving me attitude I guess ). My older daughter ( now 9 ) is the one who tests most often ( because of her age I guess ), she will scream, throw hissy fits over nothing ( a few days ago it was because of her hallowe'en costume - it was itching her so that caused a nuclear meltdown in the behaviour department ). Anyways, her behaviour had gotten out of hand lately and I found myself correcting her constantly, nagging, getting angry and doing all the things a 'good' mom shouldn't be doing. So I decided to take a look in the mirror and see if I was contributing to the problem - and ( obviously ) I was. I noticed that I didn't praise her good behaviour nearly enough and was constantly noticing the bad rather than the good. I wasn't doing it on purpose by any means - but for some reason I was doing it. So I came across this idea on the net called ' behaviour bucks ', I modified the idea to best suit me & my household. It is such a simple concept though. First I printed out a list for the fridge of our 'house rules' - they were ' Be Respectful ' ( no 'backtalk' , no attitude, no yelling, no rolling of the eyes, no door slamming, no feet stomping, no violence etc. ) ' Be Responsible ' ( Do the chores you are asked to do without being grouchy, do your homework & keep your room tidy ) & ' Be Kind ' ( use kind words & actions with your family & friends ). Then I got two glass mason jars and labelled one ' Mom's Jar ' and the other ' Good Job Faith '. After that I made some fake $1 bills on my computer, labeled them ' Faith's Behavior Bucks ' and put a picture of her face in middle of it ( a really funny one of her - she loved it ). Next I made a list of ways she good earn the fake money ( which included earning $1 for feeding the dog, $5 for a big room tidy, $1 for helping with the dishes, $1 for being extra nice to her little sister, $1 for being extra polite, $1 for watering the plants and so on and so forth. The behaviour bucks that she earns can be used to buy television , computer, video game or phone time ( $1 for every 15 minutes ). She loses $1 every time I have to go to three warnings as far as bad behaviour ( just f.y.i. she has not lost a single dollar so far ) I cannot believe how much this has changed our house ! I started doing it about 2 weeks ago and it's great. She has been able to cool down much quicker when she starts a 'meltdown' , she is much cheerier, kinder to her little sister & helping out around the house more. It has also really shown me that she does so many great things in a day that I had been kind of taking for granted . Not only that but she is so proud when she earns her money - and she spends it very wisely ( she's not cheap - but thrifty like her mom ). It has also really cut back on the amount of screen time she has. Anyways, I know for sure I am no 'super mom' , but I am really glad I came across this idea. It has worked for me - I don't know if it will be useful to any of my readers - but heh you never know. It has made a difference for me so maybe it will for someone else.

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