This is what we call PERRY POINTS... alternately titled, BRIBERY DISGUISED AS A CHORE CHART.
How do they earn them?:
By doing (each of) the following:
-making bed
-taking vitamins/medicine
-getting dressed
-brushing teeth
-practicing piano
-cleaning out the car (this must be done each time we come home from somewhere & includes them getting everything in the car that is theirs -- from toys to trash)
-NOT fighting
-putting away shoes (when getting home)
-cleaning up 'mess' (clearing spot from meals, picking up toys when done w/ activity)
and DOUBLE points for -memorizing/reciting new bible verse
But here's the trick (for long lasting habit forming) --- these must be done WITHOUT my reminders. This way they're really forcing themselves to make it a real part of their day.
We sit down before bedtime & tally 'points'. This is our time to reflect on the day's events & evaluate if we tried our hardest.
Attributes can be changed & analyzed at anytime. The point is to manage behavior & once it's managed, it's time to zero in on something else that needs to be manipulated. For us, the above habits/behaviors were needing to be worked on.
We used to do separate charts, but since our prizes (field trips) are done TOGETHER, that didn't make sense. Plus, this kinda encourages camaraderie (rather than competition, which ends up=fights).
What do they earn? FIELD TRIPS; which are a HUGE part of our family life anyway... so why not reward them with something that won't be too big of a spend for us.
When we started this Perry Points thing, the kids brainstormed a list of places they want to go, things they want to do.
Our list includes:
ice skating
water park
zoo
bounce-u
city garden--->Gus pretzels
magic house
science center
drive in
elephant rock --->johnson shut ins
roller skating
bowling
roller skating
mini golf
etc.
I used to pretend that they were choosing an activity from a hat.. I'd pretend to cut all the above activities into strips & let him or her "randomly" 'pick one' from that hat... when all reality, I was actually picking the one thing that would work for us (obviously am not going to pick elephant rock when daddy's not available) & write it on every strip. You say sneaky, I say smart. ;)
When we first started doing this, I made cute little charts on the computer... but since we starting putting their charts together, I just grab a big piece of cardboard, or something that needs to be recycled. I also used to do stickers, now just a fancy letter (or something they can't mimic).
Good luck!
