3 ways to introduce a reward scheme for young children

After Grandpa P had visited us three times in the autumn he jokingly said he could get us a ‘Supernanny’. He had tried helping me by carrying Baby Girl upstairs for bath time only to be shouted at by our 27-month-old who wanted to continue playing and didn’t feel it was getting anywhere close to bedtime yet.

But although it can be super tough to have a stubborn two-year-old in the house, I want to start the new year by picking up on some of the advice we received last year when we were invited to attend The Parent Practice workshop on positive discipline.

To help deal with tantrums, I want to re-introduce a reward scheme instead and here are three suggestions for how to introduce reward schemes for young children:

Pasta jar
In the Parent Practice Positive Discipline course we were taught that an effective way to run a reward system is to take an empty jar, which children can decorate with stickers. Every time someone deserves a reward, you put pasta shapes in the jar, and when the jar is full the children have earned a treat. The course teacher suggested treats should be non-material, and it could for example be to take time to play their favourite game or similar.

Stickers
We’ve tried handing out stickers to acknowledge positive behaviour in the past, and since Baby Girl is obsessed with stickers and loves putting stickers on her clothes this has seemed to work quite well. We’ve collected all her stickers in her room, and she’s been reminded that when she’s earned a certain number of stickers she’ll get a treat.

Reward charts
I know many mums prefer reward charts, which can be displayed on the wall, and these charts can also, for example, be used with stickers. There are a lot of charts available to buy, or you can download a free reward chart online and print it out. Netmums offers a selection of free rewards charts.

The Parent Practice, which has been teaching parenting skills face-to-face for ten years in London, has recently launched online training for parents, making their courses more easily available.

Tags: Parenting, Parenting course, Positive discipline, Reward charts, Reward stickers, Rewards scheme, The Parent Practice