There are many reasons why a reward chart may not be working quite as well as you may have liked when you stated out using one. Some of the reasons have been discussed in this post “why have my reward charts stopped working?” and include such things as your child being a little too young to understand the workings of a kids chart, your child may not be quite developmentally ready, or others in the household may be undermining your efforts by either not checking their own behavior, or not keeping up the consistency of the reward chart.
In some cases it can be worthwhile to just hold back for awhile and introduce the chart when your child might be more receptive to it. However once you have decided that the time is right, then you need to be committed to the reward plan, and follow through on the proper implementation of it, and support your child in reaching the reward chart objectives. Often children will lose interest in a reward chart if they feel that you’re not interested yourself, and if your kids are anything like mine, they will pick up on this, and this can spell doom for a reward plan, however well intentioned.
The truth is that your involvement, your interest, your encouragement, your support, and your consistency will be vital in the success of a reward chart. And conversely a half-hearted approach can dramatically lessen the effectiveness of a reward chart and really won’t give your reward plan the chance of success that it deserves.
So when you have decided that your kids are ready to take on the challenges of a reward chart, set a challenge for yourself as well… that you will be fully committed to the reward plan, that you will stay consistent with its implementation, stay focused and positive, and that you will follow through with the promises you have given. And remember, it’s always worthwhile to conduct a little bit of self-examination if a reward chart doesn’t appear to be working …is our mind-set in the right place, are we being consistent, and are we fully committed?
Interested? You can get our reward chart download package here:
