Rewarding Ideas

Figuring out the right reward system for your child can be challenging.

Every parent would love their children to be perfectly obedient or always complete their homework on time without being asked.  But we all know that that's just not how we learn and sometimes our kids need a little extra reinforcement to do the right thing or to choose work over play. 

So here are a few reward system ideas that I've tried in the past.

{Rock Bowl}

One  thateward systems we have used is filling a bowl (or jar) with rocks.  You can either place one rock in the jar for every "good" day or for a specific good behavior.  You can even let your child put in the rock to help motivate him/her a little more and get them more excited about their progress.  When the jar is filled with rocks, the child earns a reward. 

{Life Saver Bucket}
 
When I worked with an after school program we had a bucket with life savers.  If the kids were found doing something good or doing their homework, they earned a life saver from the bucket.  When the life savers were all gone, the entire group earned an activity.  This reward system worked really well because it included instant gratification for their personal accomplishments and an opportunity to work towards something bigger.

{Sticker Chart}

Sticker charts are a really common reward system, you can even find some cute free printables out there.  When I first started rewarding my kids I used a sticker chart and made sure that they were rewarded very quickly.  For instance, after earning only 5 stickers on their chart they could choose a small toy out of a basket.  Now that they are older and under the the concept I have extended it and it takes awhile for them to fill their sticker chart and earn their reward.

{Rewards}

Personally, I like having my kids earn activities rather than toys or treats.  For us, we already have a lot of toys and I don't really need more clutter, and we have treats fairly often as a family anyway so an activity is more unique.  Plus, an activity gives me a chance to spend some special one-on-one time with that child or to do something fun with the whole family.  Some of the activities that my kids enjoy working towards are: trip to McDonald's, swimming, having a friend sleepover, trip to the zoo, going out for ice cream, going to a park, and playing games together.  Most of these activities are pretty simple, so you can see that they don't have to be pricy or complicated.

You can also offer a reward in parts.  For instance, if your child likes crafts, they could earn beads for a bracelet or other craft that you will do together when they have earned all of the parts.

Another really great incentive is a hand-written note from you to your child.  You'll be amazed how excited they get to receive their own personalized "mail"--and you can express how proud you are of their accomplishments, which is another great positive reinforcement for their good behavior.

This is not an all-inclusive list, so fill free to be creative with your rewards and do things for them that they will really enjoy--after all, as their parent, you probably know your kid better than anyone.

Have you tried reward systems in the past??  Please share with us your experience and what you tried.  We're all learning together here, so any feedback you have would be great!

Rewarding Summer Homework

This summer I had the kids doing homework so they did not get too far behind for school in fall by forgetting everything they had been learning.  I didn't assign a lot of homework.  The math, reading, and handwriting worksheets only took them about 30 minutes to complete.  But it was still good to keep them in learning mode.

For the math portion, I used the Khanacademy.com website which is a great online resource for learning and practicing math skills because the problems progressively get a little harder as you improve.  This website also provides hints and solutions to make sure that your kids understand the answers.  It is also a great way for your school kids to practice their computer skills.  Just click on "Practice" at the top of the page and you'll lots of different math topics to choose from.  I also included my own timed math tests as part of the homework.

For reading, I had my kids choose a book and read it out loud with me.  Then to practice their handwriting, they had lined paper to practice.  We're working on cursive letters, so I gave them a writing sample they had to copy to have them practice the different letters.

As an incentive for completing all of their summer homework, my kids earned a tickets.  

I made my own tickets by putting stickers on some small rectangular pieces of card stock.  You can also purchase a large amount of tickets at Michaels or other general store.

Then the weekend before school started they were able to "cash in" their tickets at our own homemade movie theater.  I simple displayed some movies that we already had (because, let's me honest, we have quite a few that we don't watch very often).  I also made a "Show Times" schedule to make our movie theater more realistic.

I had a small concession stand available where they could use their to purchase Pizza, candy, popcorn, drinks, and cotton candy.  I made sure to get my kids' favorite treats and drinks for them to buy at the concession stand.

You can decide how many tickets each movie or treat is worth, you can see my "prices" for the concessions in the picture above. 

Even though school has just started for many school-aged kids, you can still reward them for a summer of hard work.  Or, now as they complete their real homework, this could be a good reward/incentive to work towards--a fun movie night with the family!