It’s always difficult to start a new routine at home. Homeschooling moms have an especially heavy responsibility here, since we need to help our kids structure their entire day despite the fact that they’re near televisions, video game systems, and their toys all day long. After getting frustrated over and over again, I did some searching and found a couple of rewards systems to try with our family.
Over at Chart Jungle, there are a ton of free rewards system printables. I liked the idea of these “Play Bucks”, so I printed out four sets of $1, $5, and $10 Play Bucks and then laminated them.
iMom is another great resource for printable kids reward charts and coupons. I got these “Kid Time Coupons” from there. Each one entitles the child to have one-on-one time with Mommy doing a specific activity.
And I got these individual reward coupons from Professor Poppins.
I used some lapbooking pocket templates to hold everyone’s Play Bucks and rewards through the day. We hung them on the refrigerator so the kids could go and put their rewards in their own pocket as they collect them.
Now, as to our rewards system. I did a very rough calculation and figured that each child’s daily chore was worth $1. I also decided that if the kids sat quietly during Story Time and Quiet Time, they’d get $5 each. Tigger gets $5 when she completes all her schoolwork for the day and the boys each get $5 when they play quietly during Morning Time. So, each child can earn up to $16 per day.
If they earn $1, they get free play time. If they earn $5, they get 30 minutes of TV. If they earn $15, they can pick a Kid Time Coupon or an individual reward coupon. Needless to say, everyone did exactly what I asked that day. 🙂
Tigger picked a 30 minute tickle session with Mom, Pooh picked 30 minutes of playing video games (he and Christopher Robin played Sonic Colors on the Wii), and Roo picked 30 minutes of TV time. As I watch their behavior, I’ll probably adjust the system a bit, but it’s really helping them work toward good behavior instead of just avoiding bad behavior.
How do you help motivate your kids to be obedient? We’d love to hear your suggestions! Keep on learning!
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