talk IS cheap!

I mean this sincerely - talk IS cheap! I am generally an encouraging person! If I were a super hero, my name would be the Big E and I could breath underwater - that last trait has nothing to do with encouragement I just think it would be cool.

My favorite person from the Bible is Barnabas - and of course Jesus.
He was the Apostle Paul's sidekick who went out telling the world about Jesus. When Paul started bad mouthing John Mark because he wasn't doing a good job, Barnabas stood up for him and offered to take John Mark with him and teach him how to do a good job! Now that is encouraging!
You can read about this in Acts 15:35-41 (page 853 in my Bible)

I have the pleasure of teaching with a lady who is Pollyanna, Mary Poppins and Ms. Frizz - remember her from the Magic School Bus? all rolled up into one. Everyday she greets our 1st graders like they are the most important people alive. Her positive attitude is contagious. If kids are misbehaving instead of pointing out the bad behaviour she will point out who is doing the right thing - "Look at Susie sitting at her seat with her pencil out - she looks ready" (all done in that great teacher voice) Immediately you have 25 other kids scrambling to do the right thing so she will recognize them - it is magic, try it at home!

Over the years I have worked with some challenging students and last year I was introduced to a behaviour chart that actually works! I am not a big fan of charts and rewards although I did put Cheerios in the toilet and let my boys "sink" them to encourage potty training! But this chart works because it uses positive language. If a child is making a good choice it is written in the good choice column. If they make a bad choice, you write it on the bad choice side and then brainstorm how they could turn it into a good choice. Once they do, they cross out the bad choice and write in the new good choice - SO SIMPLE. And at the end of the day if all the bad choices are crossed out and only good choices remain - REWARD! Which is as simple as feeding the fish or reading a book or sinking Cheerios.

They say it takes 7 positive words to cancel out 1 negative. When my kids would fight with each other I would make them sit knee to knee and say 5 nice things about each other - no repeats, since they would let the other go first and then just repeat back word for word what they had just said - they would get to giggling so hard, the fight would be over. - I still threaten to have them do this but maybe I need to up it to 7.

Everyone likes to hear a kind word - whether it is written or said out loud. Our kids like to write us notes and slip them into our lunches. Before Cam leaves on a trip we hide letters in his bag. I sometimes find one tucked under my pillow. A friend and her daughter share a journal that they communicate in and pass it back and forth. One birthday each of the kids and Cam wrote me a letter telling me what I meant to them. It takes no money, just the time and energy to build up another person and let them know how important they are.

The Bible says "Therefore encourage one another" and this makes a lot of SENSE!!