"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in the power of your hand to do so.”
- Prov. 3:27
When the school year started off, I had the great idea to fill a treasure box with little prizes, like you get at the doctor’s office, to motivate the kids to pay attention, work hard and be “Star Students”. This lasted the whole first semester. The only problem was that their focus was SO intent on the star student awards that it was a horrible disaster when they didn’t actually earn the award. They would have a fidgety, complaining day of school and then expect the award at the end of the day. But it was really too much when they started complaining about their awards not being good enough and fighting over who should get what, etc. I did away with the Star Student Award Box, and told them I expected them to perform well out of their own desire to learn instead of the desire for a prize. Amazingly, it worked! But I missed having a way to really honor their achievements. Then I read about an old custom called the Red Plate, where a red plate is placed at someone’s dinner setting when they have any achievement to honor. Since we already have red dinnerware, I chose a red plastic goblet from the seasonal patio section at the grocery store. It has been fun to put it at someone’s dinner plate and have everyone guessing WHY they got it. It also has them going out of their way to be extra helpful for me! Even Daddy got the Red Goblet the other day for getting out his bike, his bike pump and the kids’ bikes and just riding around our lane with the kids for a couple of hours while I got some quiet time!
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