Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Good Deeds Jar


Congrats to Yusuf! He filled his good deed jar! Im so proud of him and Im really liking this form of positive reinforcement! Here are some points I have to mention regarding this method:

-Yusuf was not allowed to ask for rocks
-I tried to observe small acts of kindness and later on mention to him that I noticed. ie. holding the door for me when we went to the mosque (without me having to ask him to)
-I only rewarded him for things he did without being asked... but sometimes would give him one if he cleaned up his toys the first time I asked him to and without complaining
-I did not give him rocks for any religious deeds (i.e. praying).
-We discussed as a family what kind of things he may like to do when his jar is full (bowling, Chuckie Cheese and Toys R Us were on the list)
-I kinda make the final decision with taking him to Chapters ( but he still got super excited alhamdullah). By the way, hanging out at Chapters is a super cool way to spend time together as a family = )
-Im really happy we went to Chapters instead of Toys R Us because the choices are more limited to beneficial things (well mostly)
-He chose the car completly on his own and I agreed
-He saw a few books he thought he liked but they were really random (ie. Moms from Mars) so I chose a bunch of books that I thought hed like and let him choose one
-My husband and I agreed that there was a $20 limit ... and we ended up spending $15
-After we went to Chapters we had a short discussion about how when you do good things in life, Allah rewards you with the best reward.. better than anything that Momma / Baba can buy. And how we have to keep doing good deeds our whole life so inshaAllah we can go to Jannah.

- I was a little hesitant to use this method because I didnt want Yusuf to get dependent on the reward system. Of course rewards are great and all but I also want him to develop the feeling to do good just because its good, and it pleases Allah. I really noticed an increase in Yusuf's motivation to do good things (without asking for stones) so alhamdulilah this was a success. We have emptied the stones and have begun again = )

2 comments:

  1. This has really been a very good lesson for everyone. I hope this idea goes "viral".

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  2. aww...mashaAllah!

    Yeah this is the book. I hope he enjoys it, its a great book, with a great message!

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