These past few months, we’ve had a tough time trying to shift some “unsatisfactory behaviours” in our almost 4 year old. I wouldn’t say that they are BAD behaviours… because really, bad is more like… when kids throw a tantrum involving smashing up furniture and swearing in your face. So to his credit, my son isn’t all that bad.

They are more like… annoying habits. Habits which make us parents nag and nag and nag until our eyeballs peel and our brains implode. I don’t like to nag. I don’t like entering into the same marathon of daily negotiations. I don’t like the whining and the whinging. It spoils the love.

So after months of no success, today we’re trying the reward chart.

I’ve always avoided the reward chart system. I’ve always imagined it might make my kids NOT genuine in their actions, perhaps superficial, and maybe focused on instant gratification. Sure he has a clean room, brushed teeth and says hello to people, but might his motives be elsewhere? Does the end justified the means? I guess all that never sat right with me. Anyway – despite how I felt – I figured I would try it out as a short term learning tool.

Here’s our little masterpiece. We have a row for Eating Dinner, Afternoon Nap, and Good Playtime. When the kids collect eight stickers in one row, they get a little reward. A piece of chocolate for eating dinner, a book for sleeping, and a toy car for playing well.

I looked online for some ideas on reward charts. Unhappy with the print outs, I created my own. I made it in a collage style, getting the kids involved too. If your squint you might see little bits of paper broccoli and paper potatoes stuck to a blue plate. I made each paper “sticker” and used a bit of GluTack to stick it to the chart.

Since we started, it’s all very novel and exciting. But I’ll let you know how it goes!