Motivational Stones

I've seen a few versions of a weight loss motivator out there, such as this one, which uses two glasses.  One says "Pounds to Go" and one says "Pounds Lost" or something to that affect.  I thought this was a great idea!  It's a great visual for anyone who needs to literally see their progress to stay motivated.

I decided to take the concept and turn it into motivators for the kids.  One of my children needs help with finishing up potty training, so he'll be getting a stone in his glass for every poop in the potty he makes.  I'll probably get some smaller stones as well for pee trips, so he can see his progress a little faster.

My other son will have "Good Choice" or "Good Behavior" stones.  His are the cups pictured above.  Every time he does something helpful, kind, or nice without prompting he will get to take a stone from one cup and put it into the other (it has an extra ribbon so he knows the difference).  He was so excited about this idea!  I got all the supplies and explained to him what it was for.  He was suddenly on his best behavior for the rest of the day, doing little things for me, helping his brother with anything he needed help with, going above and beyond.  And we hadn't even started with the stones yet.

It's a great way to get kids thinking about all the things they can be doing that maybe they haven't been doing on a regular basis.  I had a friend wonder if maybe there could be an issue with a child doing things purely for the prize (the stone) but my thinking is, eventually this good behavior will become more of a habit and less about the stones.  I hope.  In the past, when we've used sticker charts, eventually they'd forget to ask for the stickers because they became less important.  But the desired results remained.  However, there will be a rule that the stone can be earned for good choices, but will not be given if asked for.

I got the glasses for pretty inexpensive (about $1 each) in the craft section of our local store.  You could always look for clearance glasses in the dining section, too.  The "stones" I used are decorational stones used in aquariums.  I found this in the pet section.  They also have some just like these in the craft section, but they cost four times as much.  The bag of stones pictured below cost less than $2.  So, definitely check out the pet section.  Or just hunt for rocks outside with the kids until you have the amount you need.

Motivational stones are pretty cool.  Really, the possibilities are endless for the motivation they can give.  I may have to start a jar for myself - one stone for every day of exercise I get in!  We'll see how that goes...