Sometime ago, in an attempt to motivate Mal to do his daily tasks WITHOUT having me to nag and threaten. I decided to implement the progress chart. It is a simple chart with the list of tasks Mal needs to do everyday on the top row. These include
1. brush teeth
2. change clothes
3. eat vitamin
4. wash hands before and after meals
5. drink water
6. be good
For every task that is completed, Mal will get a sticker. The final objective of this progress chart is to get Mal to do his daily tasks without me nagging and without me losing my patience.
We tried this for a week but realised that it was not working for us, simply because this sticker thingy had lost its appeal to my 4 year old. My nagging and threatening could still be heard. We needed something else.
I came across the peg system while reading Teaching Your Children Values
The Big Boy Bag is a simple card board, with 5 bags, each representing a weekday for Mal to fill up with tokens. For every task that Mal does, to my satisfaction, he will get a token. His job is to accumulate as many tokens as he can and on Saturday, the number of tokens will be counted. For every 10 tokens he will get a small treat, eg nutella bread breakfast, and for every 20 tokens he will get a bigger treat, eg a chocolate pastry.
The beauty of this new version is that Malcolm can collect unlimited tokens. This means he can do as many tasks as he wants. I can add tasks to the list at any time and modify them with higher expectations.
1. Brush teeth without reminder
2. Finish breakfast on time
3. Help set table for dinner
4. Finish honey water
5. Clean up toilet seat if it is wet after pee
6. Help Mummy fold clothes
7. Go to bed early
the list is endless.
So far, this new system has been awesome and has worked beautifully for us. I had originally leave out weekends, thinking that he might need a break but Mal seems eager to earn his tokens even on weekends now. This makes me more than happy to add another 2 bags to the board so that Mal can work for his tokens even on Saturday and Sunday.
Sometimes I think I am an evil mum.
.jpg "Salzburg (155)")
this is really an interesting method to motivate a child.
hey thanks for sharing this idea… very good for me to use on Tim as he grows older…while the stickers still works for him now… but I foresee we’ll come to a rut when the novelty of stickers doesn’t appeal to him anymore…
kudos for the good job, me too, don’t like the idea of introducing monetary gains to encourage the child to do chores that they should…
What a great idea you got there! Think I should use this too for my 2 elder one. Thanks for sharing it and thanks for visiting my blog earlier.
hey anonymous,
yeah and it works wonderfully for me.
pauline,
u r most welcome! definitely can let tim try out when he is older. It took me a while to accept rewarding Mal for doing the things he should. Ultimately I realise, maybe this can be a way to teach discipline.
blessed mum,
thanks for dropping by! glad u like the idea.
This is such a great idea! Tks for sharing. Will want to try it out with my boy.
Ing,
this is so easy to implement, so do can try out anytime!
This seems to be a great idea. I did think of a reward system and this is just a great thing to implement when Isaac gets bigger!
Hi Ren,
I am glad u find the idea useful. Just drop by your site..how u manage so many blogs! it’s amazing! keep up the good work