So the pasta jar starts today!

[FlamesparrowThePirate]

Sod this positive reinforcement thing. Just good old fashioned be nice to mummy = get something, mean to mummy = lose something

After bloody ages yesterday having a screaming meltdown on the stairs, I think that pasta could be a better method for her

funny we started this too yesterday for very much the same reasons.

So in my house it is threat/bribe/threat/bribe all the way!

It does work wonders though. What do yours get when the jar is full?

How does the pasta jar work?

I do this too. Works great for my boys. Only problem is me keeping it up.

We use pebbles (decorative stones from Ikea) as pasta breaks up and stones look nice too. At the start of the week they each get 5 stones in their own little pot. When they're good they get a stone and much praise. When they're doing something wrong I give a warning and if they carry on, they loose a stone. If they're violent to their brother they have to give their brother one of their stones - double punishment, lol.

At end of week we count stones and they get a coin (in our house 10p) per stone.

We sat down together once to draw up a list of examples for gaining/loosing stones. They had some good ides and we prited it up.

If you're consistent with it, it's a great motivator for them, also useful bribes (i'll give you a stone if you do x y & z) or If you get your pj's on before the buzzer goes off you get a stone etc etc, or a punishment. I only have to hiss 'stone' in a menacing voice and it usually works.

I'm not so good at keeping it up for more than a month tho

DS is 5

It works really well in this house. I tend to do it intermittently with better results. I did find my DS got bored with it when I did it the first time for two months solid. It got to the point where one day he looked at me and sighed in a world weary voice, I know Pasta..........so I stopped it for a while and find intermittent is best.

Glad that intermittent is best - I'm useless at doing these things for long (hence the not using a sticker chart any more )

I like the giving your brother the pasta if you're a little git to him

sounds great - would it work with a 4 yr old and 2.5 yr old?

I think I'm going to sit down with my dd's and explain to them how it works and give it a try.

xoxo, would say yes for 4yo and no for 2.5yo. my ds is just 3 & I haven't bothered trying it with him yet. too young imo

how about if she is COMPLETELY mercenary??

I could do it with mini Dora teh Explorers

DD would have got it at 2.5 - I was being non-bribing mummy then though .

Off to get fancy stones......