Character Cash.

Yesterday was our first Wednesday that we were free from teaching our Dave Ramsey class. The new 9-week format is fast! The group that we had with us was Awe-Some!

They were so excited to try out some of Dave's ideas and they were able to see what could be possible if they stopped going further and further into debt. I am so excited for all of them and we are going to keep getting together throughout this year to visit and help keep each other accountable - which is always needed for all of us (teachers included of course!).

What we did yesterday was host a family dinner at our house and guess how many pictures I took? Yup, you guessed it! Not a single one. Here is what it pretty much looked like though:

Maybe that was just me ...

The rest of the fam. looked more like this:

Anyway...

the point of this post was to remind myself in later years about some of the things that Mark and I have tried out with the kids. Specifically one of our latest "ideas". 

Two Christmases ago, I received not one, not two, but three Tim Tebow books to read and while I did read through one, it took Mark a while to get to it. A little over a month ago he finished it and we were talking about it (and the fact that we both think Tim needs to leave New York behind and never look back!) and what kept coming up wasn't actually about Tim. It was about his parents and what a good job they did raising their children. Certain things just spoke to Mark and I and we discussed ways we could try some of those ideas out. 

One of ideas was to reward good character. In Tim's family, this meant that if someone else said something positive about the children's character (appreciating their hard work, honesty, sweet nature, etc) then they could earn a dollar. This didn't include grandmas of course (Most parents would go broke in a year!) but it included other adults that were part of their lives. 

Mark and I both loved this idea. We are always talking to the boys about character and what good characteristics are but have never really found a way to encourage it strongly when we are not around. We decided to give this a try and I can only speak for my little family - but it has been awesome! 

The boys are realizing that other adults do pay attention (often close attention!) to their behavior and that they will speak to us of it. In the past, it seemed like Mark and I brought up the negative things people noticed ("you two were fighting a lot, we heard") but never the positive. Now we are acknowledging all the positive things and by making a big deal about them and paying them a dollar, we have both noticed them striving harder to show everyone their good character. A win-win for everyone involved!

Here are some examples:

Yesterday, Caleb went to his friend's house to do some work on a World War 2 project. When the mom brought Caleb back home she stayed and visited for a few minutes. The kids were all off playing and she began to tell Mark and I how good Caleb had been at their house. Then she went into specifics about how he was so sweet to his friends (pesky but adorable) little sisters - aged 3 and 5. This mother was telling us that Caleb helped them tape things to the boys' poster and he was so patient with them while her own son kept trying to just get them to go away. Mark and I were very proud of Caleb and later we told him so as well as why that reflected good character on his part. 

Owen earned a dollar a week or so again when I received this email from our school counselor:

(names have been changed to protect the innocent!)

Miriah,

 

I just went looking for you to compliment your son, Owen.  I was SO impressed with him yesterday, and I just wanted you to know.  W.  had reached his behavior goal for the month of February – no pink slips for a whole month.  He got to invite one friend to the gym to play with him at recess.  W.  told me he didn’t know who to invite because he doesn’t have many friends.  I told him I would help him.  He then told me Owen is nice to everyone, and he would like to invite him.  We both walked over to Owen in the classroom, and W.  invited him.  Owen looked at him with a big smile on his face and said, “Sure, I would love to come.  That sounds like fun.  Thanks for inviting me.”  It was precious.  Owen is such a kind and caring person.  He really made W. s day.  W.  may have driven him crazy when they went to the gym, but you would never have known that.  Owen was a fabulous guest and helped W. celebrate his accomplishment.  We could use more Owens in the world.  Have a good day.  P.

Wow! That one was a good one and such a neat thing for our family to celebrate as we were all proud and excited for Owen. Proud of him for showing such good character and kindness towards another little boy who needed it and so excited for him that others were noticing his awesome behavior. 

I think we will continue this "idea" for a while longer and see what comes of it...