Your toddler and reward charts
Around about your child’s third birthday, there will probably be a few behavioral changes you’d like to see in them. But since young children tend to get a thrill out of doing the complete opposite of what you’d like, encouraging changes isn’t always easy.
Reward charts can be a great way to help your toddler change certain behaviors. With the right tactics, you can encourage the behavior you want, discourage the ones you don’t and you can create a positive feel in the home.
Some people think reward charts are the same as bribery. But, when you bribe a child, you give them something before you see the behavior you want. A reward on the other hand is given afterwards as a way to reinforce good behavior.
Use the following steps to set up a reward chart for your little one:
Decide on the behavior you want to change or encourage
Speak to your child about the changes you’d like to see. If you want them to clean up after themselves, be specific and say something like, ‘Put the toys back in the box after you’ve finished playing’. Your child is more likely to understand specific instructions.
Get a chart
You can make one yourself or you can get ready-made reward charts, it’s up to you really. After you have a chart, decide on whether you want to use token or stickers and then keep the chart somewhere your toddler can see it.
Change things up a bit
A lot of children get bored after a while, so after a while, it’s a good idea to swap tokens for stickers or vice versa.
Reward your child immediately
As soon as the good behavior happens, give your child a sticker for their chart and then tell them that you’re proud of them. The more stickers they get, the more your child will see that they are doing a good job. This will keep them motivated to do better.
Be patient
If your child doesn’t earn a reward, don’t tell them you’ll take one or two of the previous ones away. Just give it some time and stay positive, he or she will eventually change.
Once this happens, gradually stop using the chart by stretching the length of time between rewards. For example if your little one gets a sticker a day for tidying up after themselves, you can increase this to a sticker every two days etc.
If you suddenly stop using the chart, it’s quite likely your child will go back to the old behavior.