Start Your Engines: The Best Chart Ever

This chart fires up my son's engine in the best way. 

 

 Like every three-year-old he is learning to develop self-control and self-sufficiency. Learning these things sometimes turns into a Mommy vs. Danny match. This chart takes the pressure off us and puts it on the cars.  Of course, being a lover of cars he wants them ALL to win. He should--when a car gets to the finish line he gets to pick out a car from the store. I LOVE CARS! They are so much cheaper than Barbies.

 I made the cars after we watched a rally car race together. This got him revved up from the start.

Each car is assigned to a task. When the task is accomplished (going to sleep on time, putting on his own clothes, being reverent during prayers and washing his hands) the car moves forward.

When he does not do his task THE CAR MOVES BACKWARD. What?! A race car moving backward?  In Dan's world a race car moving backwards is morally wrong.

 The best part about this? I am the Race Master. Only I can move the cars (okay, Scott can too, I guess). I do not have to conform to boxes or stickers. If the Wash Hands car is getting a little too far behind the others I can move him forward and inch. If the Wash Hands car is getting too far ahead I can move him forward a millimeter. This has become necessary lately since he has discovered that his Go To Bed On Time car only moves once a day, whereas the Wash Hands car can move three, four or fourteen times a day!

Danny's hands have never been so clean.

It has been fun for the whole family to watch. The girls never fail to point out to Danny which car is loosing and he feels a personal responsibility to help that car improve. How fun that his good behavior can power an engine!  Wouldn't it be great if all cars were powered on goodness? That is a deep thought.

This chart may not last long--they are race cars after all--but it is great entertainment in the meantime.