Good Job Jar

I think I totally ripped this idea off from my friend Leigh; she has a great website dedicated to kid and budget friendly crafts—visit it here: http://crafty.littlerockmamas.com/

A while back she did a jar full of summer fun on her website. Lucas could probably come up with a cool jar for this, too, but I was thinking that based on his recent run of not so nice behavior it might behoove us to have a “good job jar” with the premise here being that he earned money or tokens based on his good behavior during the day.

We began the craft by using a plain old pickle jar I saved. Lucas painted it a variety of green colors (my choice since I had matching scraps of paper and ribbon) and then we added the ribbon and “good job” label (cut out on my Cricut—LOVE that tool. Have used it SOOOOO much!)

Next we had a discussion of money. This conversation cracked me up—mainly because when I began explaining how much each piece was worth he said for me to wait, ran to his room, and returned with a fistful of money he had been hoarding. This was not money from his piggy bank; oh no, this was a SEPARATE stash that he had been hiding from us. I have no idea where he got it (although I suspect that pawpaw Remedes might have given him some of it), or where exactly he had it stowed, but all total the child had THIRTEEN dollars hidden in his room. Sneaky child. We knew he was a hoarder when we discovered secret troves of Halloween candy hidden in his room after that holiday, but I had no idea he was stockpiling money.

Anyway—once I was sure we had unearthed ALL of the pirate booty, we finished our lesson on coin values and he was allowed to count out all his money and add it to his jar for a “foundation.” Then we decided on chores he would perform daily. For each chore, he could earn a quarter. In addition, anytime mommy or daddy deemed his behavior above and beyond, he could earn extra quarters. Lucas promptly announced his goal was to earn enough quarters for a new Transformer. (He picked one out at Wal-Mart that ran about 20 bucks….thanks to his secret stash of gold he was already well on his way to a new toy!)

And so far, the jar has been great. Each night before bed we award him his coins. He loves it! In the beginning we debated threatening to take away coins for bad behavior, but I decided that wasn’t fair—a good job earned should not be revoked. This was all about POSITIVE reinforcement. I do feel as though he has been a better listener and more polite this past week. Maybe the jar is helping him see that being good pays!