Do you ever feel like you are constantly getting onto your children or asking them to do something?
“Pick up your toys in your bedroom.”
“Hold your spoon correctly.”
“Hang your coat up.”
Etc.
Etc.
Etc.
When was the last time you caught your child being good and told them so?
[bctt tweet=”When was the last time you caught your child being good and told them so?”]
My husband and I were starting to feel like a broken record and decided it was time for a change–both for our sake and theirs. We were becoming more and more negative no matter what the occasion and as far as exasperating our children…well…we could probably have been the poster parents for that. Yes, it was time for a change.
To help us AND them, I created Caught Being Good Tickets. They have helped us so much! We, as parents, are more encouraging in general, and the girls are much better at doing things correctly the FIRST time instead of the….well…some other time down the line.
How It Works
Every time we catch a child doing something we might have had to remind them about in the past, we give them a Caught Being Good Ticket, and tell them why they earned the ticket. They may not ask for a ticket. If they do, they will automatically NOT receive one. They can not have a haughty spirit when they earn a ticket; doing so could result in the ticket being returned. And they must put the ticket away right away. If they don’t think the ticket is important enough to be put away right away, and it is found by another family member, that family member may keep it.
Rewards
Every Sunday, the girls count their cards. My girls have dubbed Sunday as “Counting Day,” and they look forward to counting their cards with much excitement. Once they count their cards, they look on the reward chart and decide how they would like to spend their cards. They can save them until the next week for an even bigger prize or spend them (aka return them to Dad and Mom) for a smaller prize. For instance, this week Peanut spent 10 tickets for two pieces of candy (a big deal at our house) and saved the rest for another Sunday.
Get the Tickets
Think these tickets could be an encouragement in your house? Feel free to download a copy of the tickets for yourself.
To give you an idea of how many tickets to start with, I copied 6 pages of the tickets for our family of two and laminated them with my Scott Laminator so that they would last longer.
I am also including our reward chart in the printable, but feel free to make your own if you have other rewards you like to use in your family. Most of all, have fun encouraging your kids! They will appreciate it, and you will too!
This is such a great idea! My guy is only 20 months, but this will be so useful in a few years!
Definitely! 🙂 Have fun with your little man.
Love! Pinned and tweeted! Thank you so much for sharing this with us at our linky party. We hope to see you next Monday @ 7 because we can’t wait to see your new creations! Happy Friday! Lou Lou Girls
I like these caught being good tickets. Often I remind the kids of what they don’t do and this is a great positive reminder of what they do right. Thanks and I will be sharing this on my social media for others to “catch their kids doing something right”.
What a great idea, I wish I had these when my kids were younger! Thanks for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop, hope to see you again this week.
Great idea! Thank you for sharing this on the Art of Home-Making Mondays at Strangers & Pilgrims on Earth!
Thank you!
Thanks Michelle! It’s just a physical reminder that we REALLY DO notice the good too.
Thanks Rosemary and you bet!
Thanks Jes. Always like your linkup.
I have been using the I’ve been caught being good tickets for my 2 boys. We love them. This really encourages them to put forth their best efforts on activities they consider difficult. Any chance on getting these in black and white or maybe just primary colors? My youngest son never wants the pink tickets. He would rather not get a ticket than get a pink one.
Yeah! Ha! Email me. I’ll see what I can do. 😉