Click here for Marble Jar FAQs.
Marble Jar iPod & iPhone App
Marble Jar is a fun new app that combines a 100 year old parenting philosophy with 21st century technology to help families set goals, create small action steps to reach the goal, track progress and (most importantly), celebrate as goals are met. The Marble Jar offers every family immediate access to powerful parenting strategies that support healthy, fun and respectful relationship between parents and their kids.
Together you figure out “what” you are working towards (goal) and “how” you will get there (actions). Decide together how many marbles it will take to successfully accomplish your goal (this makes the app relevant to kids from 4 to 14) and watch as healthy habits are built with the “plunk” of every marble. When you reach your goal it’s time to celebrate your success as a family. The Marble Jar is great for creating healthy habits, defining routines, developing character traits, increasing responsibility and independence in children and much more.
How does the Marble Jar App support the Parenting On Track™ Philosophy?
The Parenting On Track™ program is all about introducing parents to concepts and strategies that enhance two things – the relationship we have with our kids and their ability to grow into independent, self sufficient people. The Marble Jar is an easy, convenient way for parents to anchor these concepts and strategies at any time of the day, ensuring that – before long – they are focusing on who their kids are becoming (not the mischief they are making) and inviting children to participate in life from the earliest of ages.
Please Read
Since the release of the Marble Jar app, we have witnessed the use of this tool as a way to reward children for “good” behavior and have read reviews that liken the Marble Jar app to an i-rewards chart. Parenting On Track™ DOES NOT support the use of this app to dole out rewards. Parenting on Track™ DOES NOT advocate praising or rewarding as a means of building healthy relationships with children, fostering independence and helping children develop healthy self-esteem. It was never our intention for the application to be used in this manner. For anyone who is interested in using the app to set goals and track progress and would like some additional information, please read our marble jar faqs page or email us at info@parentingontrack.com.
Inspired by Parenting On Track™ and based on the fun family game of collecting marbles or stones for family accomplishments, marble jar is super easy to use.
The Jars in the Marble Jar app represent areas in your family life that you would like to notice, acknowledge, and track progress and improvement. There are 4 suggested types of Marble Jars you can create as you implement this powerful and interactive app into your family life.
- Jars that help you notice what’s working.
- Jars that help you build cooperation and teamwork in your family.
- Jars that help your child develop strong, useful habits.
- Jars that help your child manage the daily tasks in his or her life.
- Jars that help kids earn privileges by demonstrating consistent responsibility.
1. Pick a name for your jar that represents what you want to focus on right now; ‘What Works’, “The Morning Routine, or Mealtime (learning how to plan a meal, from grocery store to dinner table.)
2. Set a goal that you are working toward; ‘Mutual Respect’, ‘On Time & Prepared’, or ‘Lasagna.’
3. Identify the actions that will be completed to achieve the goal. The Marbles represent these actions, and depending upon the jar type you created, each time you complete a task or master a skill or catch yourself or another family member doing something you appreciate you clink a marble in the jar.
4. Create as many jars as you like and keep track together!
What is the point of the Marble Jar?
The Marble Jar was created to help parents stop and notice who their children are in their families, their school, their community and the world at large. It is an opportunity for parents to break the cycle of always trying to fix their children’s behavior or “get them to stop” by nagging, lecturing, bribing, reminding, or punishing. The Marble Jar was created to help parents stop focusing on what isn’t going well and start noticing what is working and who they are living with in their homes.
What the Marble Jar is NOT
The Marble Jar is not an electronic rewards chart. We are not suggesting that parents begin to reward their children with marbles, every time the child does something the parent approves of. We are not encouraging parents to manipulate the child into doing what the parent wants, just to earn a marble or a treat. For more on Rewards & Encouragement, please read our blog.
Sample Jar Explanations
Create a family atmosphere that is positive, pro-active, celebrates progress and improvement, looks for what’s working not for what’s broken and brings out the best in every member of the family.
Track these moments when you notice your child, or yourself engaged in something, a behavior, an attitude, an action, that impacts another person or a situation in a positive way. You know, catching your child playing gently with the new kitten or a 10 year old reading quietly to a younger sibling, or a mom who has put down her iPhone to listen attentively to a child relaying a story from the playground. It reminds us that we are exceptional human beings, even when we are engaged in seemingly unimportant things.
It’s a great way for parents and kids to create agreements around the daily privileges, freedoms, & liberties our kids want, by identifying the responsibilities that go along with them. It creates a level playing field where both parent and child agree to a set of realistic expectations that support a child’s march towards independence and a parent’s need for boundaries.
It works like this. In the morning, a child might want to play with Legos or watch TV. Together the parent and child create a list of tasks (actions) that the child will complete in the morning before attending to his privilege. Tasks (actions) might include: getting up with an alarm clock, making bed, getting dressed, eating breakfast, cleaning up breakfast, packing back pack, brushing teeth, and feeding the cat (without being asked or reminded), and as soon as these tasks are complete, the child may play with his legos or watch TV.
Take a simple activity like going to the grocery store with your 4, 7 or 13 year old and you have the potential for a hair raising, knuckle biting experience or a calm, fun, cooperative experience. Now there’s a way for parents and kids to work together to make everyday activities both fun and educational.
It works like this. One the way to the grocery store you and your child create a Marble Jar together with tasks that include: Staying on budget; only what’s on our list; stay within sight of each other; voices only you and I can hear. Instead of working against each other, you have a way to work together and then celebrate your success. And even if you don’t succeed this time, it gives you something to shoot for the next time. Added bonus? Imagine how capable your child will be 3 years from now with training like this. Cool right?
It’s a great way for parents and kids to create agreements around the daily privileges, freedoms, & liberties our kids want, by identifying the responsibilities that go along with them. It creates a level playing field where both parent and child agree to a set of realistic expectations that support a child’s march towards independence and a parent’s need for boundaries.
It works like this. In the morning, a child might want to play with Legos© or watch TV. Together the parent and child create a list of tasks (actions) that the child will complete in the morning before attending to his privilege. Tasks (actions) might include: getting up with an alarm clock, making bed, getting dressed, eating breakfast, cleaning up breakfast, packing back pack, brushing teeth, and feeding the cat (without being asked or reminded), and as soon as these tasks are complete, the child may play with his Legos© or watch TV.
It works like this. A child asks for a new video game (name of Jar.) Together the parent and child create a set of “responsibilities” (actions) that the child will demonstrate over the course of 7 days, to “show” the parent that he can handle the new video game. Responsibilities (actions) might include: managing time efficiently (getting up in the morning with no problem, doing homework and chores before playing, getting to bed without any reminding), taking care of other “stuff” that belongs to the child (picking up Legos©, putting sports equipment away without being asked or reminded), and so on.
To help kids develop healthy habits over time, taking into account that habits will grow and change as the child matures.
Healthy habits are created by repeating certain tasks over and over again, without any nagging, reminding, lecturing, scolding, counting, bribing or rewarding from parents. Parents and kids create a Marble Jar that identifies tasks that create healthy habits. Hygiene, nutrition, school work, etc.
Don’t see the answer to your question? Click here for Marble Jar FAQs.
