Good Man/Bad Man - Behavior Reward System

I had a friend ask on Facebook what we did with the jars on the younglings' desks. I figured it might be easier to explain it in a blog post. So here we are...
Our system has adjusted over the past year but here's how I'm currently using the behavior jars.
Each youngling has 2 jars on their school desk.

One says "I chose to do the right thing!" with the verse "The Lord is more pleased when we do what is right." Proverbs 21:3

 

The other jar says, "I need to work on my attitude." with the verse "You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had." Philippians 2:3

The general idea is that they can, based on their behavior, earn a contribution for one jar or the other. We intentionally created two jars. If they chose to do the right thing or have the right attitude, then they earned the reward. They shouldn't have to take out the 'good' that they earned if they in a future situation didn't choose to do the right thing. A small little difference but we wanted to be intentional.

To not overwhelm them, we have about 4 or 5 things that we work on at a time until they become solid good habits. We have each one's list on the whiteboard in the school room.

So here's how it generally works...
Each day after our school day is done, I ask each youngling if they've done their list. They need to complete the items with good attitudes to earn a counter for the good jar. If they didn't do things on their list, they have to put a counter in the 'bad' jar.
These are the counters we use for the jars. I found a pack of die cut 'man' shapes at a local education store that we use as the counters.

They hang out in a bucket in our supply basket on top of the school work sorter.

Each day they get the 'men' they earned and add them to their jars. At the end of the week, if they choose, they can trade in 'men' for prizes.

I stock a small basket with different goodies... DVDs, art kits, crazy erasers, fun school supplies, games, small toys, rubber band loom bands... little things I find on clearance or on sale.

I price the items with the number of men they can redeem for the prize. (I usually price things according to how much I paid for them but I try to have a range of costs... from 10 'men' items up to '100' men items. They have both enjoyed deciding what they want to save up for and which prizes they want to work towards earning. Having higher priced items also means that I don't have to fill the basket with cheap dollar store junk that will end up getting thrown out.)

The beauty of this system has been that it eliminate me having to nag them to do things that they should be doing each day. It has helped teach them some self-control over their attitudes. How often as adults do we have to do something we don't want to... without complaining? :)

It's also a pretty flexible system. As they get into good daily habits with different things, we can change out the required things on their list based on what they need to be working on.

It's working for us... sometimes finding a working system is the hardest part. :)

Do you have a behavior reward system at your house?