A mom of 10 kids (yes, that's a 10/1-0/ten) just shared this little idea with me. (I got to spend a couple of hours at their house on Friday. Great time. Informative and helpful. I'm totally hitting the jackpot in the big-family learning these days. Yahoo.)
Make a Character Points chart, and pin it up in the kitchen or somewhere convenient. (Just a simple word document for us, I'm not the least bit crafty!) Whenever we see the kids going out of their way to show kindness, help someone, offer encouragement, enthusiastically and quickly follow the direction they were given.....
they get a "character point" (or maybe more than one). When they reach 100 points, they get to choose a treat from a prize basket. (Our prize basket consists entirely of items purchased at the dollar store. Our kids were jumping up and down at the sight of it. They are highly excitable and quite easy to please at this age partly because we continuously deprive them of the opportunity to receive anything new. Older kids may need better prizes. I was thinking $5 Wal Mart or Target gift cards might be nice for bigger kids.) Points must be handed out exclusively at mom and dad's discretion. Asking for a point automatically negates the chances of receiving one.

It's working wonders around here. That ever-present sense of competition they have with one another is being used for good. They are tripping all over each other to be the first to obey with the best attitude. JOTS are honoring each other left and right and no longer fighting over things like who made it to the toilet first. Anything that can get them to stop racing, elbowing eachother out of the way to be the first child to use the porcelain pool when it's time to leave the house or go to bed gets my vote. The quality of my life significantly improves when I no longer have to say "kids, it's just a toilet. WHO CARES WHO GOES FIRST??"