‘Tis the season for whipping your children into shape!
The holiday and Christmas winter season has extreme value to parents who want to change some of their children’s bad habits and behaviors.
How?
In my home, my husband and I create a bulletin board with daily tasks that our three kids (ages 13, 10 and 7 1/2) need to do in the morning and evening like brush their teeth, do homework, pack their book bags in advance, remove all empty snack papers and juice boxes and backpbacks from the SUV after school, pick up after themselves, generally.
The kids are allowed up to 20 chances to mess up, with every 5 strikes (Xs) netting them one less Christmas gift.
We put this discipline plan into play two years ago and it totally worked on getting the kids to FINALLY do, regularly all the various things we’ve asked them to do each day to keep our day running smoothly and to keep the car and home junk-free.
I highly recommend it!
All you need is a chalkboard, a hand written chart or a whiteboard erected in the kitchen or family area where all can see and track their points.
This technique is even great for older kids who have since stopped believing in Santa Claus.
The key is to keep to the promise to withhold the gifts.
We do give children the opportunity to re-earn the points back by doing some extra chores or some other activity. And with that, you can get some housework done around the house too.
Try it! It might work and do report back to us if you get positive results! Good Luck!