Raphael's New Reward Chart
With the changing of a few rooms, I always find myself tripping to the charity shop with unwanted house stuff. I took out of the bathroom a metal sign which had sat in there for years.
It was an average decorative piece. I see them everywhere now, it's nothing special.
What is good about it though is that the picture is decoupaged on, meaning that it is a great base for painting on.
With that in mind I painted it in 2 coats of Wilko's chalk paint knowing that it would have some use.
In our life amidst blogging and painting we have a 3 year old boy who is being 3! Getting more independent, more demanding, forgetting manners, not sleeping through and still forgeting to tell us he needs the toilet. We have done all the usual methods before you ask. So to help give us a bit of a boost and to really get praising Raph, I thought of using the sign as a reward chart would be good.
I actually want to use it to focus on all aspects of our life, not just toileting or sleeping. I want it to be for when he helps us tidy up or lay the table or even look after his sister. Just a general system for praising him. As he gets older as well, it is way to get into introducing chores like making his bed and being rewarded for it. Maybe even eventually with pocket money.
But for now I have used a basic chart method and made the 'good work' marker something that Raph loves: Buttons! He adores playing with buttons so I wanted to get them to stick on the sign. Brainwave alert, metal sign surly would take magnets! After testing with a fridge one I went onto ebay and bought 50 small (12mm) magnets that can be used for DIY projects like magnet decoration. This cost me £3.00.
I then stuck a button on each one and left them to dry.
As soon as Raph saw them he got excited. I have had to explain the purpose of them about 3 times today. Really nailing down that it is when he helps us and when he is really good. He says "I am good", so I explain that yes he is good and have used today to really show him what he can get them for. For example, he spilled some drink so I told him to go and get a cloth from the kitchen. He got a tea towel, cleaned it up, then put it back. So I followed him, praised him and let him put a button on the chart. There will have to be a target to get, which will always be to beat the day/week before's number. Then there will be a weekly treat if he gets a certain number like over 25 or something. We will see how well he does then decide from that.
Raphael is not a tricky child but as he gets older, and like all children begins to try and push boundaries, I want to make sure that all the little good things don't get missed and I become one of those mothers who just complains and forget how lovely their child really is.
Do any of you have some methods of disciplining in a child friendly way?
Post by Emily
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