You may have heard the buzz about Positive Parenting and wondered what that means. None of us have ever intentionally tried to be a negative parent but many parenting methods use negative reinforcement which means punishing a child whenever they do something wrong. While useful and effective in moderation, punishing a child for everything does not work and is often ineffective and can even be abusive. Positive Parenting focuses on rewarding the child for the positive things they do. Reward charts are used in daycares, schools and homes around the world. Get started with a reward chart for your kids.
Guidelines
The goal is to catch the child doing something good! Try to focus on the positives. Do not remove previously earned items for negative behavior. If the child is not making enough progress or has just done something negative encourage the child to look at their chart and pick out a task to complete so they can get positive attention instead.
For younger children consider giving an immediate reward like praise, a sticker or a jelly bean every time they complete something on the chart. Once they understand the concept come to a mutual agreement on how many stickers or check marks the child must earn for a specific prize at the beginning of each day or week. The child should be an active member in this choice so that they will be more motivated! Remember to give the sticker or check mark immediately.
With age the reward system can grow to an online format like ClassDojo or RoosterMoney. The goal is to grow the system as the child matures. As adults we get bonuses, commissions and raises for our hard work, why not teach kids this system at home.