30 days of Pinterest: day 7

The correction can. The consequence jar. Whatever you want to call it....

We have one! And yes, I know vacuum is spelled wrong. I actually made this, with the kids' help, back in May. We had had company for 8 weeks straight, we had a new baby, everyone had finally gone home and...you could say my kids were having a hard time adjusting. After 2 days, I was sick of the tantrums, sick of spanking, and sick of being the bad guy.
Enter...the Correction Can! I had read about this idea in a great parenting book called "Creative Correction" a few years ago, and sort of filed it away for future use. Then I saw one on Pinterest...and remembered...and we made one! I cut up old artwork the kids had made ( hey, at least our consequences are pretty on one side!) and the kids and I sat down together and came up with consequences. (ok, mostly Pax and I; but Blythe did chime in, too! Or really, she just repeated everything Pax said. Whatever. She felt like she was helping!)  Right now, a lot of them are little chores that need to be done around the house anyways, that they can do either by themselves or with my help; but there are some others in there, too. Our list....
-no treats for 2 days.
-no Ipad/shows today
-no Ipad/shows for one week
-go to bed early
-vacuum 1 room
-clean 1 bathroom
-clean kitchen counters
-clean up toy room by yourself
-natural consequence (either they have to make it up themselves, or I pick something that fits the situation)
-5 minutes in your room
-sweep and mop the floor (this one will be changing a bit, as our new house has A LOT of tile...)
-blank (yes, I put a blank one in...an early demonstration of the concept of grace. This one can also mean they must make up their own consequence, depending on the situation.)
That's it...so far. I must say, the first week my kids cleaned over half my house...with a little age-appropriate help, of course. But things are smoother, now. Although Little Miss did have to pull this one out of the "jar" (ours is actually just a bowl-easier for little hands) last night with her Daddy.
 I have to say, I'm thrilled that it's teaching them about taking responsibility for their actions in a tangible way-and that I'm not having to be the bag guy all the time! And yes, I'm aware that this may not be the most "fun" pin we've done thus far...but they  did have fun making it!