Our family has been playing around with Marble Jar, a behavior modification, or reward, system for a few weeks. The boys are responding well to it, in part because it’s like a game on my iPhone and in large part because there are goals and rewards.
But what is really making it effective with the kids is that we can sit together and create goals and rewards together. Just a few nights ago, I noticed that Big has been slacking with a part of his evening checklist: his room has been pretty messy lately and we’ve needed to remind him to do his checklist each night. So, we discussed needing to change this behavior and created a new jar. We talked about how many nights he should complete his list before rewarding and agreed upon 10 nights. We also debated the best reward for his behavior, settling on a prize from our prize basket.
Together, we created his jar, and, when I asked him if he deserved a marble that night, he replied “no,” recognizing that he didn’t complete his evening checklist on his own.
The next night, while Middle added his marbles for tasting his food at dinner, Big remembered his goal and ran upstairs.
It’s working!
We’re all enjoying the simplicity and positive reinforcement of this rewarding app. Are you also trying Marble Jar? It’s still listed as a free app in the iTunes app store. Want to try it with me? Download the Marble Jar app and check out the Marble Jar Facebook page.
© 2011, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.
Twitter: winwinapps
says:
Julie
I love to hear that you are sitting together to set your goals. That is probably the best inherent benefit from using the app.
I want to challenge you and big to select a celebration that is linked to the actions he is practicing. If he is trying to move independently through his evening routine, perhaps his celebration is extra free choice time, a back rub from mom in the time gained by his efficiency, or the ability to shut off his own light. Not sure if this works in this situation, but making the celebration match the skills is an important bridge to natural consequences being the only “reward” and raising independent thinking kids.
Thanks so much for using the app and sharing it!
Twitter: justprecious
says:
thanks for the feedback, Anna!