Heart Chart: Teaching Virtues through Behavior Awards

I forgot about this! This one tops the creative catechism chart for this mommy.

As parents, we often face this challenge: We want to reward good behavior, to challenge our kids to seek the Good for the sake of Good, but not for the sake of being arbitrarily deemed "good" by mommy.

How to Run the Super Simple Heart Chart Strategy

I went through the catechism, found the virtues, and prayed about which ones each of my children could work on.

I cut out a heart from construction paper, and explained to each child what virtue they were working on this week, how they could get a sticker every time Mommy or Daddy or another sibling noticed them practicing that virtue, and then I asked each child what small treat or prize they wanted when they got 10 stickers. The littlest ones got a choice between two virtues.

Hint: I limit the virtue stickers to two per day. At the end of the week, if they reached 10, they get the reward. If they reach 2 per day, I encourage them to keep practicing and to help their siblings achieve their two stickers too. They sometimes leap to help their siblings out, and sometimes not.

Why Heart Chart?

We want to achieve what the catechism calls us to grow in virtue in ourselves and in our kids: "Virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do good."

My main encouragement is for us moms to encourage each other to pray about how each of our children needs to grow in discipline.

Why? Well, I have to be honest, what annoys me about anything one of my kids does may not necessarily be a flaw in their character or a need for growth in their virtues, but may instead be a flaw in my character, an area where I lack temperance, or laziness in discipline on my part. So the Holy Spirit is the best judge of this, and the One who does not condemn, but corrects and leads us to Hope and guidance as to where we should direct our children. Ask the Holy Spirit for a virtue each week for each individual child. And sometimes we work on one for many weeks - that is ok. Virtue is habitual after all.

Which Virtues?

Cardinal Virtues - You Can Find my Cardinal Virtues for Toddlers article here.

Theological Virtues - You Can Find my Theological Virtues for Toddlers article here.