Reward Stars

Last weekend Aaron and I had a long discussion about teaching children good behavior and how to get kids to remember their manners & chores. We thought about what we could do to encourage good behavior in one particular area, like eating veggies, for example. 

We thought that a simple Star Reward Chart system would work best after talking to a few other parents. I have looked online and noticed a lot of nay-saying about reward stars, stating that it encourages bad habits, like a child assuming every good deed will result in a reward, but after careful consideration and discussion with Aaron, we found that if we emphasize more on the "good behavior" and less on the "rewards", perhaps it would have a more positive effect.

Boy has this system really worked! Aaron's daughter is more focused on achieving the reward stars than on the rewards themselves, which is really amazing to see. I think it's because we created more of a game-like system with it that Ashlyn views as something fun and rewarding in itselfs, the rewards being a secondary thought.

Since using the Reward Stars Chart, her behavior and willingness to try new foods has improved immensely!

Here is what we used to create ours:

1. A wood board to stick the stars on

2. A bag of stars from Michaels for $3.99

3. Paint

4. Brushs

5. Glitter

6. Velcro to stick the stars on the board

6. Something to put the stars in, we picked up a cute little box at Michaels for $6.95

After gathering all our materials, Ashlyn and I picked a theme she liked from one of her favorite movies, Tangled.

We used the Art of Tangled concept book that my brother and his wife bought me for Christmas some years back, it's been a life savor for so many of my creative projects!

 I let Ashlyn do a lot of the color blocking, Aaron and I wanted her to feel like she was a big part of the process. We figured if she enjoyed making the Star Chart, she'd associate it with a fun memory and therefore be more apt to participate with it.

Ashlyn was in charge of making all the stars, and she did an amazing job! Just look at all that glitter! 

Aaron was in charge of putting the velcro on the stars (a very tedious job indeed!) 

 

After that I wanted to make sure the stars and the colors were working well together before painting the rest of the chart and treasure box.

I did my best :/

Finally finished with painting! Pew!

After putting fitting the velcro on the chart, Ashlyn painting the inside of the treasure box! 

Aaron and I took a long time coming up with rewards, as you can see they're nothing big, just little things we thought Ashlyn would appreciate when she gets enough stars.

On one side it has a list of things she can do to earn the stars, on the other, the rewards she can get from them. She often brings the list over to Aaron and I so we can describe everything to her since she's still learning to read. Usually Ashlyn just wants to play with Dad's phone. Se's pretty addicted to the games, thus it being the first reward on the list, haha. 

It's pretty great waking up to her knocking on our door and describing how she got up, got dressed, brushed her hair, brushed her teeth, took care of her bedroom and fed the kitten.

I don't know how long her enthusiasm will last with this, but it's been a great two weeks :}

xox, a modern dame