Months ago, I realized that I was becoming a ‘nag’. I would find myself telling my kids:
“Clean up your room.”
“Watch out, you’re going to get hurt.”
“Don’t treat your sister that way.”

Then, I realized I had the power to create a positive, motivating environment for my kids. I bought 100 straws for $.99 and put 2 cups on the kitchen counter; one cup with each kids name on it. I told the kids that they could earn straws by doing 2 things:
1. Obey their parents right away, all the way, and with a happy heart
2. Treat each other with kindness, respect and loving/encouraging words

At the end of the week, if they had 25 straws in their cup, they could go to the dollar store and I would buy them anything they want. They were in awe that they could get anything in the entire store (they don’t yet understand that everything in the store is a dollar.)

I may only have a year or two left in the lives of my kids to utilize straws and the dollar store, but hopefully by then, they will have received enough positive motivation to be living out #1 and #2 above.

It’s amazing what $1 and some straws can do!

How are you creating positive motivation for the people around you?