Time-Out Box

Fed up of seeing 'barang-barang' (things) left on the floor? I AM!

Really tiring to always repeatedly tell the kids to NOT leave things on the floor, to put their things back where they belong. I even tried the soft approach; cooking up a story about how their things have a home, like how they have a home. And that the things need to 'go home'. How would they feel if one day mommy took them out and forgot to bring them home? Well, that's how their things feel. Nice story eh? But not effective.

To always pick the things up for them would be to spoil them. To collect the things and throw them away would be cruel and also not economical. So, I decided to come up with THE TIME-OUT BOX.

The Time-Out Box is the home for all 'homeless' things. The box I use is quite big because it has to accommodate badminton racquets. The ideal 'treatment' would be to just pick things up and put them in the box. But I still have a soft spot and give warnings before I do a sweep for things.

How to redeem? Well, I have a chart to record down the days they give me 'good attitude' during study time. Every 'good day' earns a smiley face. For every smiley face, they get to redeem one item from the Time-Out Box. Of course you can set up your own conditions. It could be every kind act or every time they clean-up their plate. In a way, you get to reinforce two behaviors at one go; kill two birds with one stone sort of thing.

Okay, that's my latest trick.