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 = )