So I feel I have to share this today as it has been working for well over a year in our home with great effectiveness. As a mommy, I am well aware that you need to take the power away from everyone involved at times and use a different method to get results when it comes to raising kiddos. I do not claim to have any answers nor do I take full credit for this idea. I just want to share because both of my kiddos love this and I have been able to follow through with this system which speaks volumes! The idea of “gems” actually came from an amazing business owner here in my town. In fact, this amazing little toy shop we have is the type of small town store that will bring a wrapped gift out to your car so you don’t have to pull your little ones out of carseats. Dreamy. Josh is the owner of Toy Town and he told me back when I was potty training my son, that I should fill a jar with gems and each time we saw results, my son could transfer one into his jar. And that was it. Nothing fancy at all! It worked. So we have adapted the “gem in a jar” system to fit our everyday life. Here is how we use it in our house: 
I have a mason jar that sits in a convenient spot in our home. It has a handful of gems {we need at least 20 for this to work well}. Each time one of my kiddos acts in an exceptional way, does a good deed, follows directions well, etc. he or she gets to put a gem in their own jar. I am also known for saying something like, “If you pick up your room right now you can put a gem in your jar.” I have found that there is no begging and the kiddos LOVE transferring a gem into their own jar. The key is that they get to actually pick out the one they want and transfer it themselves. We really like to focus on positive reinforcement. But I am not going to lie, there have been times where the behavior has crossed a line and instead of yelling or getting angry, I explain why it was unacceptable and they are asked to take a gem out of their jar. Not sure that works for everyone, but it seems to change behavior around here. 
The goal: To acquire ten gems in the jar. Once they do so, they get to choose something from the treasure chest. It’s CRAZY how fast they run up into my bedroom to pick out their treasure. And we are not talking anything major!!!! I have a box that is filled with little, silly trinkets. I often pick things up from the dollar section of Target. Examples of what I put in the treasure chest are: matchbox cars, pencils, coloring books, stickers, lip gloss {huge winner!}. You get the idea. I used an extra banker’s box I had in the house and just covered it in wrapping paper. 
HINT: I don’t know about you, but often times my kiddos will ask for something when we go to a store like Target or anywhere else. It sort of drives me nuts. So the new solution is this, “Yes, you can pick something from the dollar section and put it in the treasure chest.” It actually is AMAZING as they are so eager to earn their ten gems because they already know what they want. So now I don’t get as ticked off when they are asking for things. Makes my job easier as I know they like what they have picked. {And before you start thinking I am crazy. . . they certainly do not bring something home for the treasure chest each time we go to a store}. 
I have to say that having this system has done wonders over here. There is tons of excitement when someone puts a gem in their jar! I am sure there are a zillion other great ways to motivate responsible behavior around the house. I would love to hear what you do at home. Feel free to share in the comment section. have a great day!
I can attest to the fact that this system is a GEM, as I utilized it when watching the kiddos for a problem-free weekend! 🙂
Grandma Sue
This has come at a perfect time! I was looking for a positive reinforcement routine to enforce with my twins who are beginning to push the limits!! Love how simple this idea is! Thanks for sharing!
This sounds like a great system. My kids are older, but I would love to pass this along to my cousin. She has a 4 yr old daughter and timeouts don't seem to be working. 😉
I am seriously going out today and buying gems for the little stinkers in my house. What a fabulous system!!!
Love this!!!! My triplets are three and a half and we are STILL in the throes of potty training! I have tried the sticker charts but then I would forget to print it off, etc. This is a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing!!!!
I love it when I hear of a fresh idea that I haven't seen anywhere else! Great post! We do a standard reward chart with jobs on it and stars…so many stars earn a reward, etc. But this is great idea and utilizing the dollar section is even better. I often fall prey to them begging for something but this is a great way to put it good use instead of just giving them something.
The other problem with our white-board reward chart is my 18 month old keeps erasing and moving the stars/jobs and the kids get frustrated and give up. He won't stay away from it!
Oh I will definitely be bookmarking this for our kiddos one day! Love this idea!
This is genius. I LOVE this idea. We started a similar token system last year to deal with the kids getting out of bed after being tucked in at night that has worked BEEEautifully. Here's the link to that: http://rindymae.blogspot.com/2011/08/get-out-of-bed-free-tokens.html
I'm pinning your idea and will definitely be trying something similar with our kids. I'm SO tired of barking at them to do something over and over and over. Or the constant yelling to stop them from fighting with each other. If your idea works for us, I'm envisioning a much more peaceful summer!!!
Thanks so much for sharing!
This is such a wonderful idea Courtney! Maybe I can figure out a way to apply this to our puppy! Hope you had a lovely birthday celebration.
I think this is brilliant! Will be tucking away this little "gem" of an idea til I have kids old enough to need/use it! Thanks!!
I am a teacher and use this system in my classroom…has worked like a "gem" for me for years! Love the idea of your kids picking out their own treasures!
what a great idea this is, I Love It. I am stopping at the dollar store today and getting setup. I know my kids could use something like this to keep them motivated to pickup after themselves and other things too.
Thank you!! I've been looking for something like this for my 5 year old. I've been struggling with her lately…but I think this might be something she'd get excited about!
Thank you!! I've been looking for something like this for my 5 year old. I've been struggling with her lately…but I think this might be something she'd get excited about!
Any ideas where I can find the gems? My kid have a couple of gems they have picked up at parties (e.g. treasure hunts) but I haven't been able to find any. This idea will work well with my kids. Thank you!!!
I am SOOO using this! My girls have been having mini meltdowns over everything so we created a chore chart – but they would LOVE this : )
Love this idea!! Where can we find the "gems"?
Great system!!! i know that would work well for S! Jackson has started earning an allowance, so money is a good motivator for him to do his chores. I think having something similar in place for good behavior is in order, too!
I love love love this idea!! Thank you so much for sharing. We are always trying to find ways to encourage our little ones and this sounds fabulous!! We mommies always need good ideas. We can't do it alone! Thanks again! 🙂
SUCH a great idea! I will carry this with me into motherhood one day! We had a similar system to this (but I was a pistol and would steal Colin's coins out of his bucket….nothing really worked for my attitude problem! ha)
Oooh this is a great system…I'll have to keep this one in mind!
Great idea!!!!
I love this!! What a great system!!
This is GREAT! I'm a psychology major at Virginia Tech and am currently doing research in the elementary and middle schools. The thing the we learn and see all the time is that to counteract a undesirable behavior, you need to reinforce the opposite desirable behavior. This system does just that! It is great! I will be sure to implement this when I have kids (ah, one day)! Thanks so much for sharing this great idea! I hope others can see the benefit in it!
We do something extremely similar and also call it our treasure box. Little lollipops are the biggest hit with the boys. 🙂
xoxo,
Jen
I've been on the hunt for ideas like this since I think James is starting to get to the age where we need to start a discipline/reward system. Great idea!
what a great idea for little ones!
Such a cute idea! I just might need to copy it! Thanks so much for sharing!!!
So simple but seems so effective…I think I will start this in September when school is back in session- love the idea of getting through the $ section at Target- brilliant!
I absolutely LOVE this idea, and the treasure basket! We've been thinking about something similar, but didn't really know what the 'treat' would be – you've got it all sussed out, wait till I let my husband read this, how fabulous 🙂
I love your ideas for motivation with your kids. The treasure chest would make any kid excited. The best thing is you don't know what's in it.
-Zane of ontario honey
Just stumbled on to this…My kids are away with Nana for the summer but we will definitely use this when they get back home. Will help make the re-programming from Nana's rules (more like no rules!) to Mom and Dad's rules a lot easier from everyone