Encouragement

I am always amazed at how well positive reinforcement works to elicit good behavior in my children. Then I feel bad that I don't practice it more often, and I kick myself for forgetting how well it works. And above all, I remember - my kids deserve this. I think of how much it means to me, to have my boss say a simple, "good job." And I think about how awful it would be to constantly be told I was doing a bad job, or that I needed to try harder or do something different, or just to have my hard work ignored.

Yesterday morning, all four kids were terrific in church. Then they came home and spent the entire afternoon helping me clean and take care of the babies. I praised them, and the more I praised them, the better they got. The more I encouraged them, the harder they tried. I told them it made me happy that they weren't fighting, and they didn't fight all day long. I told them they were doing a great job cleaning, and they cleaned harder.

They were amazing little amazeballs, and I was so proud of them. And I told them so.

Last week, I bought two little pink metal mailboxes at the dollar section of Target - because how could I not?! The girls were thrilled, and asked me to put messages in them. But I forgot. Until last night, when I thought about how proud I was of them. So I made them each a little award

There is no allowance or treat or anything that I think would have excited them more than those two little pieces of paper.

It's so easy to forget, that a simple "thank you" and "great job" goes a long, long way. They don't really need elaborate reward systems or bribes, when just a little encouragement will do.

(Hop on over here to my other blog for some yummy recipes!)