How to get them to remember?

So right now the thing I am trying to get my girls to work on is turning out lights when they leave a room. I'm really trying to cut back on our electric bill and I know that in the past lights have gotten left on all over the house, including in the garage. They will go out there to play in the morning and I won't notice until night time that the light is on. Anyways I do remind them any time I see a light on and ask that they go and turn it off which they do. But how do I get it so that they just remember to do it?

 

Repetition. Just constantly reminding until it becomes habit. Like washing hands or putting down the toilet seat. Just tape record yourself and push play. :laughing:

 

I agree with using repetition. You will feel like it will never get through to them, but they do catch on.

 

I tell my girls why we need to do something. In our case, they often forget to turn the tap off after washing hands. So I've told them that it's wasteful & bad for the environment to leave the water on. They seem to like to take on the responsibility. Now we have the opposite problem - neither one will leave the tap on for her sister because "it's bad for the 'viornment".

 

Yes, good point! We do this too.

 

Yep, good old repetition. You could start asking, whenever they walk into the room you're in "did you turn off the light in the other room?"

Only other thing I can think of is to make up a sign, print off a bunch and stick them on the door frames of rooms they are particularly bad at remembering to do the light at their eye level.