Things I Love Thursdays: The Warm Fuzzies Jar

Here's another parenting thing I recently discovered that I just love. I came across it on Pinterest, and while - let's face it - I'll never be one of those Pinterest Moms who cuts their kid's food into elaborate shapes or crochets owl hats, this was something even I could manage.

We've tried sticker charts in our house, and they work occasionally, or for a short period of time, but my kid's just not that interested in stickers. Besides, how many sticker charts do we need? One for potty training, one for staying in bed, one for listening, etc. The great thing about this idea is that it's a general "good deed" reward system. Plus it's super duper cute.

What you need:
1 jar
1 package of multi-colored pom poms (aka "warm fuzzies")

That's pretty much it. Your child can decorate their jar with stickers or googly eyes or paint or whatever. We haven't gotten a chance to decorate ours yet (I think that will be a fun project for tomorrow), but here's a little image I spruced up with the Rhonna Designs app (another Thing I Love, by the way).

So far Jack has earned himself three puff balls for general good deeds including pooping on the potty completely by himself (I was actually banned from the bathroom, which was somewhat unsettling), setting the table for dinner tonight, and listening on the first try instead of the eighteenth like usual. Bigger deeds earn bigger fuzzies, so a kid can fill up their jar faster if they really work at it. To be honest, I think the jar I chose may be a little big, so we might draw a line on the side and make that the goal. With a four-year-old, the prize can't be TOO far away, or they lose momentum and interest.

Anyway, I'll let you know how the warm fuzzies jar works out for us, but for now, I'm excited to have one less sticker chart to maintain.  The great thing about these puff balls is that they can be re-used once the jar is filled (or used for future projects). And that right there gives me the warm fuzzies! Huzzah!