Motivate your Kids with a Reward Chart
Imagine your kiddoes doing exactly what you say when you say it. Does that happen at your house? If not, what are you going to do to get there?
We want our kiddoes to be obedient and to accomplish the tasks we have asked them to in a timely manner because disobedience is SIN, and it makes for a constant struggle; but, to accomplish this immediate obedience and timely manner of working, what can we as parents do?
I have found that we can either discipline a LOT, over and over. Which isn’t fun for anyone and doesn’t make for a happy learning environment, or we can REWARD the good behavior at least 5 times more than we correct the bad!
Rewarding the good can be difficult. It isn’t easy to remember to point out that your child did a great job completing an assignment when he laughed hysterically for no reason, chewed the eraser off his pencil, threw a spoon in a no throwing zone, and complained three times about having to do anything other than swinging a ninja sword for a solid 3 minutes.
Setting up a reward system with specific guidelines helps reward good behavior, so that your children are always encouraged to exhibit the good character qualities you are trying to instill in them, without letting the negative distract you from your ultimate goal of encouragement. That’s why I love motivating my kids with a reward chart!
Reward charts can be so simple and easy, I don’t know why more mamas don’t make wonderful use them! Start with a blank piece of paper or a printable like this FREEBIE:
FREE Printable Reward Chart
You can also get numbered charts from the dollar tree.
What to Reward
Decide what specific behavior you are going to reward. You don’t want to make this topic too broad, or you will get distracted and forget to use it. Choose one specific thing you want to be intentional about rewarding. Obedience, having a joyful heart, speaking with kindness, or putting another person before yourself are all good things to start with. Any character quality or task will work! It’s probably best to choose the top bothersome, disheartening behavior that is currently disturbing your home. (NOT throwing dirty clothes on the ground is also a good one 😉 )
First Time Through
For us, that was having a negative attitude when asked to do something. So we call our chart the “Happy Heart Reward Chart.” It is labeled from 1 – 10. The first time through, we labeled each number with a specific reward we knew our children would like. Things like popsicle privilege every evening, pizza party, tea party, you choose an outdoor activity, daily treat from a box of small candy and trinkets, pick a date to go on with daddy, or choosing an art project can be added to the list. My kiddoes had to exhibit the character quality once to qualify. They will likely fly through this, so you may want to choose the small rewards first.
Next Time Through
The next time through takes much longer. The children have to exhibit the character quality for an ENTIRE day in order to get the next reward. The listed rewards for each step get bigger and more rewarding the further they go up the chart. Our chart currently starts with a daily treat (like a piece of chocolate, ect..) for step 1, and ends with you choose ANYTHING you want to do for an entire day (with spending limits of course). So if they make it 10 days without complaining or grumbling about their schoolwork, chores, or anything else, it’s a free for all day!
You will be amazed at what your children are capable of and the wonderful attributes they can make a part of their sweet souls if you spend some time training them, and especially rewarding them, on their path to righteousness (and clutter free floors 😉 ). <3
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