So the marble jars..

 

At first they drove me mad…

 

The boys emptied them as quick as I could put marbles in, to count them, to play with them.  Marbles all over the kitchen floor, tinkling in the jars, shouts at each other for stealing them.

 

But it is beginning to work…

 

It was my friend’s idea after a disastrous Easter with boy mayhem.  We both had a tearful teatime as we threw them all out in the rain… love them and yet exhausted by them…. Little blue eyed, blond haired, strong willed, mischievous, adorable, painfully and frustratingly stubbon…  their fathers sons…

 

So the marble jars were introduced.

 

An empty jar each, per child (you could include any grown up children too!)

For each good deed, helpful act, obedient response, polite word… a marble is put in the jar.

Once a marble is earnt, it can’t be removed.

As the jar is full to the brim, a pre-determined prize or amount of pocket money can be traded for the marbles.

An empty jar, to start again.

 

I have done something similar before.  With M&M’s or smarties.. but either the boys or I ate them.  Which wasn’t good for their teeth or my waistline!

 

So we are four days in and we have two layers of marbles in the jar.

 

It is true what they say – people work harder for praises than raises.  In this case, they get the praise as I deposit the marble… and the ‘raise’ in the form of pocket money …

 

They are being pretty good!  Which is a huge blessing..