Bickering and Whining

Every parent knows that nothing gets under your skin more than listening to your own child's whining and bickering.  It's straight up annoying.

A few months ago a friend of mine posted about using marbles in a jar for her kids.  It reminded me of when I was teaching.  Basically, you had two jars.  One was full of marbles and the other one started out empty.  Whenever the class as a whole would do something positive or presented the desired behavior you were looking for, you dropped a few marbles in the empty glass jar.  When the 'positive' jar was all filled and the original jar was empty, the kids got to pick from a list of reward activities.  It was a great tool for a lot of teachers, but it was one more thing for me to consistently stay on top of.  My teaching style and personality didn't fit well with the marble jar and a whole class setting.

Now that I am a parent and just have two big kids who can understand the purpose of the marble jar, it is perfect for my personality.  The rules for our house marbles are as follows:

• You earn marbles for doing what is expected of you without being asked (i.e. getting yourself dressed, brushing your teeth, making your bed, putting away your toys/clothes, picking your plate up off the table when finished, setting the table for dinner, etc)
• You earn even more marbles for going beyond expectations (i.e. helping one another, mowing the yard, picking the weeds, showing kindness when others are being ugly to you, etc)
• You get marbles taken away when you whine about chores or when being asked to do something, when you show ugliness to each other, when you do not complete what is expected of you. 

So far our jar has worked out very well.  Little Man and Little Miss chose Incredible Pizza as their reward treat.  Within a week's time, the kids are already halfway to their goal.  Managing the marble jar with just two big kids is a whole lot easier than managing a marble jar for 25 big kids.

P.S. The Rhea Lana of South Tulsa sale is fast approaching.  Be sure to stay in the loop by liking their FB page and checking out my blog post here for details!  I know on my to-do list this weekend is to go through all the toys inside and outside of the house, and the kids' closets!  Looking to make the most $$$.  

Plus, I am working on my referral list.  I would love to make 80% on my sales.  You can to!  All you need is 5 people who cosign with at least 15 items.  Three people with 15 items gets you 75% of your profits.