Anyone have traditions for making kids behave?

MyBrownEyedBoy wrote: My mom had this great idea one year. It was supposed to encourage us kids to be nice to one another and to be better behaved in general. The nativity set my parents bought in Germany is carved out of wood and it is beautiful. I have always loved it. So, my mom always hid the baby Jesus somewhere in the house and he just appeared in the manger on Christmas morning. The manger was just a carved wood box, no carved hay or anything soft in it. So, my mom cut up bits of yellow yarn to make "hay" for the manger. There was a small pile of hay beside the creche. Everytime we did something nice, we were told to put a piece of hay in the manger. The goal was to make sure Jesus had a nice soft bed. The first year we three kids did great. Every piece of hay was in the manger. But subsequent years were hysterical. One year, I think there were maybe 7 pieces of hay in the manger on Christmas Eve. My brother went nuts about it, he was running around being as nice as he could trying to fill that manger.
So, does the threat of coal work at your house, or do you do something better/different?

kit_kats_mom replied: we havent' needed to do anythign like that yet but with Lauren, I fear that it won't be long before we will. Someone wrote into one of my parenting mags last year (I think) and said that they have a stuffed elf who comes out after thanksgiving. He sits in the living room and watches the kids. Then he disappears on Christmas eve to make his report to Santa.

sparkys2boys replied: Bribes.. they work and I use em!!!! With the two boys I resort to down and dirty tricks when I need be..lol!!

moped replied: Good lord - if you come up with something please let me know

boyohboyohboy replied: kelly, your story is so sweet.

I have tried to start instilling in caleb the need to help others. so we are trying to show him when he does something nice then we reward him.

he just collected $167 for the children of africa to have a well drilled. our goal was $4000 but of course thats hard for a 5 yr old to stay committed that long. But we are just as proud of him for that.

CantWait replied: I'm not sure you're actually serious with the question Kelly. In general though, we're just consistent and if things that are important to our family aren't followed through then there's consequences. I don't reward for good behaviour or manners because I don't believe in it, I call it teaching my child to be a loving productive part of society.

That doesn't go without saying that every once in awhile when we're out for long periods of time that a treat isn't provided if they were good, or if it's going to be awhile longer.

That's a very nice story Kelly.

Hillbilly Housewife replied: I agree with Marie... we don't give "extra" stuff to them for being nice. We just stay consistent with it... we don't need bribes.

Calimama replied:
That's clever.

A&A'smommy replied: What a CUTE idea!!! We have never done anything like that at our house..

lisar replied: I like that. I have never heard of someone doing that. I dont have anything like that.

Jamison'smama replied: I reward ----This idea is cute--I may have to try it.

holley79 replied:
That's a pretty good idea. I will ahve to remember that for when Annika gets older.

Kelly I think that is a wonderful thing what your mother did. Sorry it didn't work for the years after.

C&K*s Mommie replied:

CantWait replied:

luvmykids replied: Kelly, I love your mom's idea! We don't really use any tricks or traditions but once in a while I can't help but throw in the "Santa saw that"....

redplaydoh replied: Cute story... maybe when they're older. Right now I am inventing ideas to help them mind with duct tape.... (just kidding).

cameragirl21 replied: very cute story, Kelly, what a great idea on your mom's part.
my mom did something with me once that i still remember and thought was very clever.
remember that i had told the board that i was born in eastern europe and we came to the US when i was very little. well, at the time, my parents didn't have any money so they couldn't bribe me and they really had to get creative.
so one day, i was really crying and whining and i'm not sure why, that part i forgot.
we had just finished eating so my mom took a glass off the table that still had a tiny bit of water in it but it was so little you could barely tell there was anything in it. so my mom said, "ok, let's see if you can cry enough to fill up this glass...cry into the glass (it was a very small glass) and when it's full, come back and show me." and then she pretended to cry into it and said, "see, i already got you started, there's a little bit of liquid here already from me crying."
so i got all excited and took the glass to my room and really tried but by this point i was no longer crying because i was interested in what she showed me so needless to say, i couldn't add anything to the glass. i gave up fast so they didn't have much peace and quiet for long BUT i wasn't crying anymore so as far as my parents were concerned, it was mission accomplished.

redplaydoh replied: Now that's a cute story too!