Create your own positivity jar

Create Your Own Positivity Jar ~
Written by Jamie C. Martin

Want to encourage more positivity around your home–kind words, helpful actions, listening to Mom and Dad?

Try a positivity jar. Here’s how it works.

1. Get a bag of dry beans of any type – put them in a basket or container.

2. Take an empty glass jar and put it somewhere easily visible.

We always kept ours on top of the living room armoire or shelf in the dining room.

3. Children can “earn” beans by saying something positive, choosing kindness, listening the first time, counting by two’s – really anything you decide!

4. What the positivity jar isn’t.

Here’s the bit I loved: Before when I heard about jars/ideas like this, it was always with an idea of a reward for the kids, “When the bean jar is full, we’ll get ice cream, buy a toy, etc.”

Depending on the situation, I am all about intentional bribery! But in this case I felt led to encourage a different motivation for making good choices.

5. Each bean is worth 10 cents. (or whatever you choose!)

When the bean jar is full, tally up all the beans and let your kids donate the money to a charity of their choice. This way their kind actions benefit others!

Whenever the kids filled our jar, we counted it up together and let them choose where to donate the funds. They felt a lot of pride in their efforts!

6. Rinse and repeat!

I gathered my ideas for bean jars from the books Leadership Education and Calm and Compassionate Children – then I tweaked the concept to best fit our unique needs at home.

I hope you’ll give it a try, too, in whatever way might work for your family!

“Children learn what they live.
If a child lives with criticism… he learns to condemn.
If he lives with hostility… he learns to fight.
If he lives with ridicule… he learns to be shy.
If he lives with shame… he learns to be guilty.
If he lives with tolerance… he learns confidence.
If he lives with praise… he learns to appreciate.
If he lives with fairness… he learns about justice.”
~ Dorothy Nolte

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