Kindness Chart - It's a Beautiful Thing

My preferred method of discipline is to begin with clear and realistic rule, and positive reenforcement.  When the kids make a mistake I remind them of the rules and consequences, and if they continue the behavior they receive a time-out.  The reminder/warning part is skipped if a child does something to intentionally hurt someone, I don't want them to learn that they can get away with hurting someone if they only do it once!

I have used several different methods of positive reenforcement and behavior charts over the years.  Over time the kids get bored with the system, and so do I, so I have to change things up!  I have a pretty great group of kids right now, they don't have problems with aggresion, but sometimes they have days where they could be a bit kinder.  So this is what we did last Friday...

First I sat down with all of the kids, a blank piece of paper, and a marker, and I asked them, "What is kindness?  What does it mean to be kind?"  And this is the list they gave me all on their own:

In case it's hard to read, it says:

~ Helping others who are having trouble

~ Don't tattle

~ Reading to a friend

~ Including others

~ Thinking of others' feelings

~ Say nice things

~ Be a nice friend

~ Do what the grown-up tells you to do (we talked about which grown ups that ment, not just any grown up)

~ No arguing - talk about differences calmly

~ Respect eachother

~ Take care of eachother

Nice list huh?  I thought they had some great ideas!  A great list, but that wasn't going to be enough, they need somethign to motivate them to find ways to be kind to eachother.  I told them that when I catch them doing something kind, I'll put a star point on the chart.

The name of my daycare is Caring Heart Child Care

Next I told them that when they get 100 points they will earn a Pizza Party, complete with pizza (of course) popcorn, pop, and a movie!

What happened next was a beautiful thing, one of the older girls started reading a book to one of the little kids, and two others started picking up toys and asking me what they could help me with! 

They earned those first 6 stars in the first hour of having the chart on the wall!

I had been a bit worried about how the day would go since it was the first day of summer vacation and it was raining almost the whole day, but Friday ended up being one of the most peacefull, happiest, kindest days we've had!

Let's hope the kindness chart keeps working because I want more days like that!