Alright, here I go again with another CHART and reward system that I hope I can keep up with and will last for more than a week! We've been doing this a couple weeks now and so far so good!
Goal: encourage kids to take self-initiative and have good attitudes with their chores and extra things around the house
Examples:
* Complete morning routine without any reminders-- get dressed, make bed, jammies away, (pull up away)
* Complete bedtime routine without any reminders-- jammies on, clothes away, teeth brushed without arguing about who's tooth brush goes where
* Clean your room.
* Clean the play room.
* Help put things after dinner.
* Do any extra chores.
This does NOT include things they should already be doing anyway:
* Any chore they are already assigned for the day.
* Taking plate to the sink after a meal.
* Good attitude.
* Good attitude.
* Anything I have to TELL/REMIND them to do.
Reward:
Kids can earn 1 coin for each thing on list one. They can then use their coins to "buy" rewards from reward chart. They can save up to earn something bigger or they can use coins right away and buy something small. Doing this is also a fun introduction to money and the concept of spending or saving.
 |
| big plastic coins |
These are some rewards I came up with, trying to add variety so it wasn't ALL food-related, but really you can create your own.
5 COINS: 1 small piece of candy
10 COINS: extra book at bedtime, 1st for the day (first choice on where to sit at the table, which plate to use, served first, where to put toothbrush, etc)
15 COINS: buy 1 pack of gum that only you get to eat, stay up an extra 30 min at bedtime
25 COINS: buy a small toy ($5 or less), small ice cream cone, free dessert pass ("on a day when you did not eat all yoru dinner, you may redeem this coupon to still receive dessert"), chocolate milk with dinner for a week
35 COINS: pick out a new book at the store, go to lunch with mom
So far this has especially been motivating to Eli and in 2 weeks he's already earned 14 coins! Most every day he'll do his morning routine and clean his room (or at bedtime) all by himself. And occasionally he'll clean up after dinner. It's so exciting to see. And I realized the other day, you know, it's fine if this isn't what motivates Hannah, though she does do it too. She has 5 coins. It's fine if they end up having different systems, each child is different.
Awhile back I'd tried to a coin-in coin-out system. Good behavior earned coins, bad behavior lost coins. But it was just too complicated for me when it came discipline time. And honestly the kids do a whole lot more to lose coins than earn them. So after a break from that and rethinking, I came up with this, and for now it works!
Great idea, Sarah!
ReplyDeleteWe did a reward system with Caleb for the months of September and October. I divided the day into three segments and he had the possibility of getting a colored check mark for three times each school day if he had a good attitude and didn't complain, grumble,etc. I usually didn't even remind him I was watching to decide if he got his check or not. We decided at the beginning of the month levels for rewards based on the number of checks. He didn't get to the highest point level the first month but still got a prize. It really helped his attitude about homework improve and we've had a great year!