love jar : dallas family photographer

Wheeeew long blog hiatus….. guilty!   I have sessions to share that I have been dragging my feet on putting up on the blog.  I am not sharing photo sessions today …  today I am something more valuable for all of us with small kids….  and it is easy and cute in case you are feeling crafty or in case you are as desperate as I was for something to help the kids get along!

Back in the days when I had only one child at home it was so easy to feel like a great parent – our house was picked up and peaceful!  Add a little fiery girl into the mix and I became a little more humble.  Turns out it wasn’t that we were great parents – we just happened to have a very happy and easy first child – Jack.   When Grace started to get a personality and some mobility the Williams sibling wars started.

I know how much my kids love each other but how could I help them to show that love to one another?  The idea came from the pros – the teachers at Jack’s school!   In his class they all can earn marbles for good behavior and once the jar is filled they have a marble party – this seems so simple but I know how it motivates all those first graders so well.   In our house we call it the love jar and now my kids earn marbles when they are showing love towards one another.  We have also started offering extra marbles for getting ready quickly in the AM (jack!), potty training sucess (grace!) and for doing extra special things around the house or going above and beyond.  When the jar gets a set amount of marbles – they get a reward that they can do together – an outing, a game etc… It is working so well that I thought I would share it.  Not rocket science at all but we always forgot to print charts, keep track of stars, etc… this is working!

We already had the marbles which sit in a tin can so we just added the jar from walmart, some ribbon and cute paper from Hobby Lobby and we were in business.  The best part is that the picture reminds them of what it is all about and the cuteness factor seems to be a further motivator.  With a photographer mommy I think my kids are highly visual but in general I think ALL kids love and respond better to beautiful things!  Don’t we all?