Last year I had an idea to make a sticker chart for the girls to reward them for kindness, thoughtfulness, being helpful, and showing good manners. It worked so well and really encouraged them to look for ways to be kind. We filled up that whole sticker chart and the girls have been begging me to make a new one. I decided to share it here for any of you who are interested in using it too!
Lots of moms use a sticker chart for potty training, not to teach their child to expect a sticker every time they use the bathroom for the rest of their life, but to encourage them as they learn something new and motivate them to do it over and over again until it becomes second nature.
I think the same idea can work for teaching kindness - strengthening their "kindness muscle memory", if you will. Now, months after finishing our first sticker chart, Rosie still surprises me by getting my shoes out of the closet before we go somewhere and carries a pile of of toys over to Madeline if she's crying. Olive still throws away Madeline's dirty diapers without being asked, picks out pajamas for Rosie every evening and draws pictures for our neighbors. The sticker chart motivates them to look for opportunities to be helpful, and practice over and over again putting others before themselves.
Olive and Rosie are 4 and 2 and still think stickers are pretty much the coolest thing ever, but if your kids are older you could check off the squares with a marker and come up with a reward for every 10 squares.
I hope you'll try it out with your littles and let me know what you think!
Follow this link to download and print your own kindness chart!
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