Kids are little monsters. We say that a lot in my house. When you are a small person and have trouble communicating your big feelings… Sometimes you turn into a little monster. My children are just like your children…
THEY ARE CRAZY!!!!!
They really want to be good. They really want to please the adults in their lives. But sometimes all we see are the not-so-smart things they do and the bad behaviors that seem to always be happening! It can sometimes feel like the entire day has been spent telling them, “No.” “Stop that.” “Don’t do that.” “That’s not a good idea!”
I realized a few weeks ago that I had been spending most of my day getting after my kids for all the wrong behaviors they were doing. And with six kids to point out wrong behaviors too… Well, it was exhausting! Both for them and for me. And honestly, it really wasn’t making much of a difference.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer that bad behaviors need to be acknowledged and corrected. We do our children a huge disservice when we don’t guide them and correct them when doing things that are “A very bad idea.” – For instance… Throwing our younger brother over the back of the couch because he wouldn’t give back a toy we wanted. “NOT a good idea!”
Children most often learn the most lasting lessons from positive affirmation. My kids really weren’t learning to change their behavior when I was constantly correcting them and putting them in time-outs. Nope. They were learning how not to get caught, how deflect punishment, and how to blame their sibling for their behavior.
I decided to change my strategy. It was time to pull out the ingenious “mom” and find a way to reward the good behaviors. And then I saw a sheet of stickers on the table… (Ah-Ha! Lightbulb!)
Instead of catching them being bad… I will catch them being good! I designed these printable sheets for my little monsters. I sat them down and told them that I had had ENOUGH! And that I was determined…I was going to catch them… BEING GOOD!!!!
They, of course, thought this was hilarious and awesome! And immediately began arguing about who would get the most stickers. (Hey, I’m not saying that it solved ALL my problems!)
Every time they are caught being good, they are allowed to put a sticker in one box. When the entire sheet is filled they can choose a special treat from my rewards tub.
My rewards tub is not fancy. They don’t care about how it looks. They care about the treats on the inside! I stopped at the dollar store and filled it with little toys, trading cards, candies, and other things that they love. They are all excited about being good and earning a special prize.
Since I hung up our Good Behavior chart I have noticed several things.
- I do not feel exhausted from focusing on bad behavior all day long.
- My kids look for ways to be good, helpful, and kind.
- The kids encourage one another to be good and often ask for a sticker to be given to a sibling when they are nice.
- We have seen a big improvement in remembering to NOT do things that are “A Bad Idea.”
If you have a little monster in your house who needs to be caught “doing good,” print off this free printable, make a little rewards bucket, and grab a few stickers. It is so much fun to track the good behaviors and show our children how life is rewarding when we are kind, are considerate, when we follow directions, and when we think before acting.
Click here to Download Free Printable.
Happy Good Monster Catching!!!
Keikilani
What do you do to encourage good behavior?
This is a cool idea! My kids would love it! I also have a treat box to encourage good behavior. 🙂
This is truly just what I needed! We’ve been having issues with following directions etc so this is definitely a helper for me!
what an awesome way to treat kids. I like that it’s about them being good all the time not just to get a star. You never know who is watching.
That is a really cute idea. Behavior charts used to work well with my kids when they were little.
This is a really wonderful idea. We spend so much time disciplining and pointing out bad behavior, but often forget to acknowledge the good stuff so I love that you do this!
What an adorable idea! I think kids behave better when parents focus on the positive behavior rather than the negative.
I think this is a great idea. Kids will always like getting rewards for good behaviour….I know my grandson does.
What a clever idea. I so need to print these off for my 3 younger kids. Sounds like a good incentive!
This is too cute. I have a little monster in my house but she’s generally good so this will be filled up pretty fast. 🙂
This is a great idea and I think especially helpful with strong willed kiddos. Sometimes I have to make the effort to make sure I am praising the good when it is a particularly rough day
It is a good idea to have these printables celebrating good behavior. I also like that they are posted so they can be seen and celebrated by the entire family.
My kids are still too little to ‘get’ this chart, but I am saving it for later. I totally agree in the positive affirmation approach – my youngest is one, and I feel like I am constantly telling him to not climb on things – instead I started congratulating him for sitting on his bottom (on the chairs), and giving high fives. He still climbs, but sits straight on him bum for a high five 🙂
My daughter’s school has a similar program and she is so excited when she gets to come home with a Caught you Being Good card. Great idea.
Great idea. I don’t think enough people point out the good moments as much as the bad ones!
These are just too cute. Now that I finally have a printer I’ll be printing these out for my 2 little monsters.