Teachers/Parents -do you use a token reward system?

[luvmyfam444]

tell me how it works? I worked in a classroom briefly MANY years ago & remember the teacher used this way of discipling her spec ed kids - but I don't remember all the fine details of how it worked. I know the kids got tokens & were able to purchase things with them....that's all I know....

ANyone do something like this? I'm really wanting to start something like this w/dd's (been doing the chore/behavior chart for a few weeks & it's just not working).....

 

[janet715]

My son's school uses "Caught being good" slips. When they are actively listening, cleaning up without being told, using kind words, etc, a teacher will hand out a little slip of paper that tsays "Caught being good" on it. The kids then fill them out with their name, grade and homeroom teacher and hand them into the teacher. They are then all put into a pot and the principal picks one every week and takes the winner out to lunch. The kids find them so valuable that they actually have started trading them for pencils, food or whatever.
Here at home, I use a similar system with my son (he is 8), except instead of a slip of paper, I put a ticket into a jar and each ticket is worth 25 cents, which he can save or spend any way he wants.

 

[Aidensmom]

We have one in place right now specifically for a particular problem. DS4 gets a quarter to put in a mason jar (we use the jar so he can see how many are in there) for each day he makes it through school without going to time out. He can then use the money earned to spend on whatever he wants.

He just "cashed in" his quarters yesterday to buy something for $2, now he has something in mind for $6......

 

[mickeyboat]

DD's K class was behaving terribly two or three weeks ago, so the teacher was using a "bear jar" to reward good behavior. When the jar got filled to the top, they were supposed to do or get something special, but I haven't heard what that is.

I have used a marble system at home, which I need to perfect. I would give up to three marbles per day (one for getting out of the house in the morning, one for dinner time, and one for bed time) for good behavior. When they reached a certain number of marbles, they would get a small craft project to do - which was a little present for them, but also extra time spent with mom. The kids were very enthusiastic about the marbles, but I wasn't as consistent with the project as I should have been, and I think I needed more concrete examples of behavior that would and would not earn a marble. We have moved on to other methods now, but I will get those jars out again if I need to.

Denae

 

[cwnhokie]

I need a better reward system too, we have a sticker chart, but it's not consistent enough. I would love to hear others ideas. I have the book
"1 2 3 Magic" Which is awesome. A great system for timeout. It works very well with my boys 3 and 5. But I need to figure out something better for the positives.

 

[Mom21]

Here is what I use. http://www.easychild.com/howeasychild-works.htm I bought the standard edition (the middle one for $60). I searched for lots of systems. Most were either based on rewards or punishments exclusively. This one I can gear towards both. For example, normal behavior gets positive rewards-- ie daily points for making bed, brushing teeth, clothes in hamper, etc. If there is a particular behavior that she needs to work on I can assign it a negative point value to discourage her double. For example, I can assign a value to "not arguing with Mommy" (a big issue in this house). Say 2 points and at the end of the day she hasn't argued she gets 2 points. However if I notice a lot of days with her beginning to not care if she earns those points I change the value to -2 (I always let her know I am doing this).

Also allows you set up the reward system. It is like a ladder system. the child must remain at a certain level (I think it is labeled at A-F). You as the parents can set up the ladder, print it out, and post it. No arguing. I simply show my dd that she has not maintained a certain level therefore XYZ privelege is removed such as playing with friends. It has helped me also in being consistent. Used to be that she could be good for a week and then do something that made me angry. In the heat of the moment I would yell "No friends this week". When really I should have done something else. Now we keep this chart on the wall. I simply walk to the chart and remove the appropriate points, calmly. At the end of the day I tally the chart and print it out. I can tell her the next day in a calm manner "You have fallen below X level." The appropriate previlege is posted in a chart. No arguing, no doubts as to the appropriate punishment as it was written at a time when we were not angry or arguing and she had a input into the levels of rewards. You can also tie it to allowance if you want and it auto calculates the amount the child has earned. No arguing.

It is working for us and I have a difficult little girl to say the least.......LOL.

 

[pjshaff]

DD's first grade teacher uses Butterfly Bonus Time for the class. They have 5 butterflies for each day of the week. If they get in trouble, for whatever reason the teacher deems, they have to mark out a butterfly for that day. If they lose 5 butterflies in a week, then they do not get to do Butterfly Bonus Time on Friday. BBT can be different things that they do in class, like extra Centers time, etc.

It works well for DD.

 

[Papa Deuce]

We bought an ink stamp set that has 10 different stamps. We let then stamp a paper every time that we think they have "earned" a stamp. After they get all 10 stamps --- they like the variety --- they get $1.00. They are 4 and half.

They have taken to this system like you wouldn't believe. They as how to earn stamps. And they worry that we will take them away for bad behavior, which we do as well.

It is UNBELIEVABE. I mean we have great, well behaved kids before, but now they are actively pursuing these stamps and trying to be better.

Now, that said, it has only been 3 weeks.

 

[Marseeya]

This worked like a charm for my DS when he was little! I wish it worked like that on him now.

When he was in kindergarden, the school had a system of "red, yellow, and green light." After a misbehavior, the child would go from a green to a yellow light, and then finally to a red. Red light meant something like missed recess. Well, that wasn't quite enough motivation for DS, so we did a reward system with him. The teacher sent home a slip every day saying if he got green/yellow/red and for every day that he had a green light, he got a quarter in a jar.

 

[luvmyfam444]

I guess my biggest problem is that I really don't have anything I can take away from dd - she doesn't have tv in her room or games or anything of the sort her only play time is w/her sister after school or reading @ night (which I don't want to use as punishment) so I don't have anything I could use to take away.....

 

[Aidensmom]

I guess my biggest problem is that I really don't have anything I can take away from dd - she doesn't have tv in her room or games or anything of the sort her only play time is w/her sister after school or reading @ night (which I don't want to use as punishment) so I don't have anything I could use to take away.....

How old is she? We tried taking away things with my son, it didn't really work. He is much more motivated by rewards.

Besides the quarter thing I mentioned above, which is his daily reward, he also gets some special treat - renting a movie, going to McDonalds, etc, if he goes an entire week with good behavior at school. It works well with him.

 

[luvmyfam444]

How old is she? We tried taking away things with my son, it didn't really work. He is much more motivated by rewards.

Besides the quarter thing I mentioned above, which is his daily reward, he also gets some special treat - renting a movie, going to McDonalds, etc, if he goes an entire week with good behavior at school. It works well with him.

She's 7.....we don't have any sort of special treats we do regularly that could be taken away either - not even dessert....so I think I need to come up with some rewards - but I just don't know which ones!!! She doesn't know the concept of time much so staying up late wouldn't mean anything to her (except make it hard to get her up in the a.m.)...AAAAAAAAAGHHHH I guess I'm just gonna have to think about this some more....

 

[Daisy Duck 5]

She's 7.....we don't have any sort of special treats we do regularly that could be taken away either - not even dessert....so I think I need to come up with some rewards - but I just don't know which ones!!! She doesn't know the concept of time much so staying up late wouldn't mean anything to her (except make it hard to get her up in the a.m.)...AAAAAAAAAGHHHH I guess I'm just gonna have to think about this some more....

How about having a box that has little slip of paper in it with different rewards. After she has a certain amount of stickers she can draw a slip of paper from the box. It is random as to what will be on the paper. Some examples may be go buy one thing at the dollar store, go rent a movie, special night out with you, receive a sticker, work on a puzzle with you, go to the library and select some books, pick out supper, watch tv all morning.
Make some of the rewards be small and some large. I dont really like the idea of money as a reward. The idea of it being random keeps it fresh. You child may also have some ideas.