Pick-Up-Box Idea!

Well Tuesday I had my parenting class again. We learned about effective praising. Often we forget to praise our children and they even pick up on it.
Recently one of my sons asked me, "Mom, why do you always see the bad stuff I do!"
I believe my hubby said the same thing! Ouch!
Well we do notice the good things we just always don't tell them thank you and what a great job!
What's funny though, have you noticed for very young children we constantly tell them what a good job they're doing?
Like, "thank you for being such a good helper" and "you did such a good job on that".
We must work harder to let our other family members know when they are doing things that please us. Then they might be more eager to behave and do kind things!
Okay so we also got a great tip for cleaning. You know how kids leave things all over the house...well you now use the "Pick-Up-Box"!
This is how it works. You tell them they have 15 minutes till pick-up-box time. They must pick up all the toys, clothes, books and put them where they belong. In 15 mins you go around with a box and pick up everything that is out of place and should have been put up. You hold on to the box for a week and when they need that missing something you tell them they don't get it back for a week.
(just like the garbage bag threat you Mom might have given you)
In a week you give them an hour to retrieve their items (from the box) and put them away. If they don't put them away then you have the choice to never return it!
You just might de-clutter your house this way!
Hopefully they miss things and will remember to put things away.
I'm really enjoying this class. It has given me a new look at parenting. It's also nice to get out with adults and talk about how we're all going through same thing!