Does anyone use behavior/reward charts for their kids?

[ElizabethBennet]

How old were they when you started?

How does it work? What kind of reward do they get and what does it take to get a reward?

Did it help?

[luckyval]

Yes, we started around 2 yo with a star chart. Thankfully, it's all Velcro, so we can switch out different tasks/goals to meet every few months.

It ranges from taking care of the pets (in his case, feeding them their one scoop of wet food at night) and picking up toys to no whining and not hurting others.

There's also good table manners and using the potty on his chart right now.

There have been some weeks where we all kind of drop the ball on this, but Hart will often be the one to keep us in line.

It's been moderately effective. We remind him about the star chart throughout the day and I think he's often more devastated about not filling up the chart than he is about not getting his reward at the end of the week.

The reward is generally an ice cream sundae he can make himself after dinner Sunday night. One week he did get all 6 stars every day that week, so he picked out some new play doh tools.


eta: our deal with him is that he has to earn at least 25 stars for the week to get a reward. 

[flutterfly]

We have two variations. We have a daily stoplight (red/yellow/green)system. Basically green=great day, yellow=had some warnings, red=really bad day. They start on green each day, pick a reward to work for (tv time, ice cream, whatever... it's their choice)and if they are still on green at the end of the day when DH comes home, they get their reward. It's made my life way easier.

We also have a sticker chart for things they really want, like toys and such. I tie this in with the first system, a green day gets you a sticker and then so many stickers add up to the reward.

ETA: My kids are 3 & 4

[litebright]

We started one recently, mostly to discourage the girls picking at each other. They are 5 and 3, and DD1 has ASD so some of those interactions are tough for her.

We have a line of smiley faces on a white board in our kitchen. They each start with three. They have to earn five more to get a treat. They can lose smiley faces for bad behavior, but earn them for particularly good behavior or interactions, for being especially helpful, etc. They are responsible for things like picking up toys without getting a smiley face, but if they do things that aren't their responsibility (like helping me with laundry, etc.) then they can earn one.

We also use TOs and natural consequences (like taking away a toy they're fighting over), so we have a few different tools depending on the situation.

[jenmegs]

Nov 12, 2013 10:25:07 GMT -5 luckyval said:

Yes, we started around 2 yo with a star chart. Thankfully, it's all Velcro, so we can switch out different tasks/goals to meet every few months.

It ranges from taking care of the pets (in his case, feeding them their one scoop of wet food at night) and picking up toys to no whining and not hurting others.

There's also good table manners and using the potty on his chart right now.

There have been some weeks where we all kind of drop the ball on this, but Hart will often be the one to keep us in line.

It's been moderately effective. We remind him about the star chart throughout the day and I think he's often more devastated about not filling up the chart than he is about not getting his reward at the end of the week.

The reward is generally an ice cream sundae he can make himself after dinner Sunday night. One week he did get all 6 stars every day that week, so he picked out some new play doh tools.


eta: our deal with him is that he has to earn at least 25 stars for the week to get a reward. 

How do you work things like no whining or hurting others? Do you take a sticker away? Or is it like, "you didn't whine today, here's a sticker!"
I'm trying to figure out a chart system for my 2.5 yr old, mostly because I can't deal with the whining and not sharing with his sister. 

[luckyval]

Nov 12, 2013 12:02:57 GMT -5 jenmegs said:

Nov 12, 2013 10:25:07 GMT -5 luckyval said:

Yes, we started around 2 yo with a star chart. Thankfully, it's all Velcro, so we can switch out different tasks/goals to meet every few months.

It ranges from taking care of the pets (in his case, feeding them their one scoop of wet food at night) and picking up toys to no whining and not hurting others.

There's also good table manners and using the potty on his chart right now.

There have been some weeks where we all kind of drop the ball on this, but Hart will often be the one to keep us in line.

It's been moderately effective. We remind him about the star chart throughout the day and I think he's often more devastated about not filling up the chart than he is about not getting his reward at the end of the week.

The reward is generally an ice cream sundae he can make himself after dinner Sunday night. One week he did get all 6 stars every day that week, so he picked out some new play doh tools.


eta: our deal with him is that he has to earn at least 25 stars for the week to get a reward. 

How do you work things like no whining or hurting others? Do you take a sticker away? Or is it like, "you didn't whine today, here's a sticker!"
I'm trying to figure out a chart system for my 2.5 yr old, mostly because I can't deal with the whining and not sharing with his sister. 

We wait until bedtime and go through the list. The DCP updates us, but we also ask him. He seems to fess up most, if not all, of the time.

[snakeoiltanker]

We have a chore jar. It has Popsicle sticks and each one has a different chore on it. For each chore he does he gets 10 minutes video game time. Some of the sticks have fun chores like ' 10 minute family pickup ' where we all work together.
It is the only thing that has worked for us. He's pitching in , managing his time and it limits his video game time without it being a struggle.
Video games are all that really matter to him so they were the best reward to use and if his behavior is bad than he can't use the chore jar.

[spwspw]

We did a sticker chart for potty training - little square princess stickers for pee pee (plus one m&m) and bigger sparkly princess stickers for poop (plus a hershey kiss).
Since then we've started using a marble jar for random things. The marble jar works really well because she likes picking out the marbles and now she understand delayed gratification and working up to a bigger reward. She chooses what the reward will be each time we empty the jar and start over.