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Excerpt:

Incentives & Rewards for Children’s Behavior

I strive to bring as much delight as I can into all of the children’s character and behavior training.  So I look for the little things to praise for and try to jump at those with affirmation.  Now I am very aware that there is value in children doing things simply to develop good character; but we also do not think there is anything wrong in offering a tangible reward sometimes.  When daddy goes to work, he is rewarded for his effort by his paycheck.  So from what we’ve learned it is also fine for children to experience rewards when they do good work or have personal successes.  Since I’ve been asked for specific strategies for incentives and rewards with the children, here are 9 ideas for you…

Mini sticker charts

This is a main incentive strategy that we have going in our home all the time.  We keep a mini sticker chart for each of the oldest children on our white board next to the dining room table and kitchen, as well as a sheet of mini stickers for the charts.

I give stickers for a variety of reasons:  someone sitting at the table for an entire meal when they usually struggle with that, completing assignments on task or more quickly than usual, perseverance when something feels hard, volunteering to aid someone else, when they finish their entire 24 oz. water bottle in a day, and when they clean up all of the toys in the family room / kitchen / playroom areas within one upbeat song I play for them.  When one child earns a sticker and another child says, “Hey, can I have a sticker, too??” I always tell them, “Yes, when you have your own special achievement.”  I explain that Brandon (for example) has been sitting on his bottom all of lunch time, and if they choose to do that tomorrow as well then they can earn a sticker, too. Incentives are earned.  If I hand them out to everyone when only one person actually earned it, then the person’s effort who earned it is nullified.

I do, however, give stickers to our 1 and 2-year-olds sometimes when a sibling earns a sticker because these little guys don’t have very many opportunities to earn stickers for themselves, and the older children understand this.  When I have time I do look for ways to enable a young child to earn a sticker and they just about burst with pride.  *chuckle*  I have a 1 1/2 or 2-year-old carry baby bottles to the sink for me, or push in all the chairs up to the dining room table, help me pick up Cheerios from the floor, or help put a toy away in a basket.  They usually put the sticker on their forehead.  *smile*  And when they’re about 3-years-old they are becoming old enough to have their own sticker chart and understand the accumulation process and working towards a reward.

When the children finish a five-sticker row they may choose between two different rewards:  either one Jelly Belly candy, or $.50.  The older ones nearly always choose the money, and the younger ones who don’t understand the value of money yet choose a candy.  When the money-earning children realize that they can fairly easily earn $2.50 total for completing one whole chart, they are even more motivated to get each sticker.  Even though the children are being tangibly rewarded for their good choices, it is still establishing good habits, and the younger children have a good model to follow in the older children’s behavior.  That is very worth one Jelly Belly or $.50 to me!

When a chart is completed we all cheer for that person and then I tape the completed chart on the refrigerator for all to see, and it usually goes from there to someone’s “special personal things” box that they each have.

I buy these “Personal Incentive Chart Bookmarks” for $3.99 for a package of 24, in varieties of themes from ShapesEtc.com, and 2 packages of matching-themed little 1/2-inch stickers for $1.79 each for 288 stickers.  Two packages of stickers will cover all 24 charts.

http://www.largefamiliesonpurpose.com/2011/12/incentives-rewards-for-childrens.html

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