The Marble Jar

Do you find it challenging to motivate your childrenexample, each day that your children clean their
to accomplish tasks, chores, homework or anyroom they will receive five marbles, each spelling
other request or expectation? Trust me you areword they get correct in practice and/or on a
not alone. Until you have succeeded in impartingtest they get one marble. I have given 20
these household virtues onto your children so thatmarbles for every book our child reads. If the
they become intrinsic, which may take a verybook is more difficult than normal I may
long time; you might consider utilizing some typecapriciously allow them to put in 30 or 40 marbles.
of reward system. There have been manyYou may offer them some quantity of marbles if
versions of reward systems throughout thethey try a new food. The possibilities are endless.
years all with varying degrees of success.When the jar gets close to getting full typically
The system I am about to describe has beenthe child will be looking for ways to earn marbles.
fairly successful for at least younger aged childrenNow it is time for the reward for filling the jar.
(4-12 yrs. old). Once the teen years hit yourThis could be either an individual reward such as a
guess is as good as mine. Hopefully by that timetoy, a movie, etc... or it could be somewhat of a
you have successfully instilled the core values andfamily reward like going to a movie of the child's
life skills necessary to live a happy and successfulchoosing or going to some other activity of the
life.child's choosing like roller skating. You can either
This reward system is called The Marble Jar andprecisely predetermine the reward or have some
is very straightforward. The decisions that haveoptions that the child can choose upon completion.
to be made are: What size of container will youI remember one time my child wanted a big
use to store the marbles earned? What sizereward although I cannot recall what it was. We
marbles will you use? How many marbles will bedecided that he needed to fill four marble jars to
earned for a successful task? And what type ofget the reward. It took about three months but
reward will be given when the jar or container ishe did it and he was happily rewarded for some
full?good old-fashioned hard work.
To get off to the best start possible be sure toMotivating children can be a delicate matter and it
include your child in these decisions. As with anytakes patience and persistence to achieve the
successful project it is best to get the buy-in ofoutcome you desire. Whether you use The Marble
the participants. I have used Gatorade containersJar method or some other type of approach
and typical larger jars with standard size marbles.never forget that the ultimate goal is to develop
You may want to purchase some new varietieslong-term positive habits that your children will
of marbles to add a little zest to the process.need to live a good life. As Aristotle stated, "We
Determining the amount of marbles to be earnedare what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is
for various tasks can get tricky depending onnot an act, but a habit.
precedents you set so start off small. For