I'll be the first to admit that I have never been a fan of the Behavior Chart. I've used quite a few at school and it just never seemed to work. Either the kids would get tired of it or I would... I'd spend much more time giving stickers than actually teaching. Things would get unruly while I was handing out 'Good' Sticker. Ug.
I've tried them as a class... I've tried them individually... I've just never liked them...
Ever...
Until now.
Yeap, ole Kelly has had a change of heart (Imagine that... seems to be the norm now days for me lol)
Backstory:
My middle child, C, has always been a bit of a handfull. She marches to her own drummer sometimes as it were. She's as sweet as can be, and I definitely wouldn't know what to do without her. However, sometimes, she can be handful (as all kids can be). My oldest daughter is 5. As all kids are, they aren't perfect (Imagine that!).
We have always had issues with discipline because time outs didn't work all the time, and I absolutely hate to spank them... not saying that I haven't on the rare occassion when I was at my wits end and unsure what else to do... but it never left me with a great feeling inside. I thought there HAD to be something better.
Cue Internet Search (where I find all my awesome ideas!)
I can't even remember what I was looking up, but one of the searches came up "Behavior Charts" and this light bulb went off in my head.
A "Duh" if you will...
C LOVES charts. She loves lists and knowing exactly what is coming next (a bit like her mother in that regard... ). She has an afternoon/bedtime chart on the refrigerator which has cut down on bedtime meltdowns. It has been a lifesaver (both for me and my ears!!). K also loves working toward rewards (who doesn't)... and well, I had to throw my hat in the ring too because I, too, need lots of improvements (Didn't see that coming, did you???? ;) )
Anyway, I found that there was ONE piece that I had been missing before... ONE TINY piece of the puzzle that IMO caused my previous Behavior Charts to fail in the past... a Behavior Contract !
A Behavior Contract is an individual contract with each person on things they will do/not do to reach a certain goal...
Did that make any sense?
This is the one I use...
http://www.freebehaviorcontracts.com/Behavior-Contract.pdf
(Please know that I don't own these and no copyright infringement is intended. I'm not making any money off of these... sadly... )
It has honestly been the best thing I could have ever asked for! The first night, my kids and I sat down and they picked the 3 things they wanted to be responsible for the rest of the week. Click on the link to see exactly what I'm talking about. For example, K's choices were "I will pick up after myself." "I will not fuss." and "I will listen to Mama." All goals she got to pick herself with a *little* help from Mama. Then we went and wrote down the Expectations of each goal. ***Important! Only make at most 3-5 goals. They don't have to be perfect... they just have to try REALLY hard not to do that thing that annoys you the most (and you all know what it is that *your* kid needs to work on). If you give too many then failure is inevitable, and that defeats the entire purpose of the Contract.
At the end, we wrote the privilage/reward and the consequences.
K's Privilage is that if she connects 7 dots (I'll show that sheet later) then she gets a new crown.
C's Privilage is that if she connects 7 dots, then she gets new bubbles
MY privilage is that if I connect 7 dots, then I get a new book (I'm VERY motivated let me tell ya lol).
After that, I taped them on their bedroom door ala:
If you squint REALLY hard you can see my goals... 1. I will avoid whining. 2. I will avoid saying bad words (I don't say them in front of the girls, but I do let one slip sometimes when they aren't around and I'd like to stop that) and 3. I will pick up after myself. See, I need work too...
Anyway, in the picture, do you see those sheets of the princesses and the castle?
Those can be found here: http://www.freebehaviorcharts.com/category/free-behavior-charts/ (Again, I don't own them... but I do wish I knew how to upload sheets... I have a few I'd like to offer for free... but that's neither here nor there).
This is a small sample of the sheet:
It's the actual Behavior Chart. Every day at naptime and at bedtime (because we can't be good all day lol), we sit down at the door, we each go over our goals and whether or not we met them. If so, we take a highlighter and connect the dot to the next number...
I am happy to say that we are ALL on number 6 and if I can avoid cussing tomorrow... I mean... if the kids do all of their goals tomorrow... we get to get to number 7 and you KNOW what that means!!! Bubbles, and Crowns, and Books OH MY! *They* are a bit excited about it (whistles innocently).
If they are acting up or fussing or whatnot, I'll just say, "Remember your numbers" and they stop. It's been awesome :)
I never did say what the Consequences were on the chart. K and C's are time-out/delay in prize. Mine is delay in prize (because time out might be a privilage for me lol).
The 2 charts/contracts I posted are free to use on the individual websites. However, if you want to go all out, http://www.etsy.com/ has some stores with behavior charts (because lets face it, etsy has EVERYTHING!!). My buddy Ella from http://www.finchfound.com/ found these and suggested I post them.
The first is: http://www.etsy.com/listing/61323030/006-i-did-a-good-job?ref=v1_other_2
It's $7.00 USD, but its sent to your email and you never have to buy it again.
The second is: http://www.etsy.com/listing/57489500/custom-listing-personalized-garden-happy?ref=sr_gallery_38&ga_search_query=chore+chart&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade
It's a little more expensive at $21.50. but looks really cool and I actually would love it (if I had paypal... or a credit card... or $21.50.) I think my kids at school would really love it.
So there it is... my endorsement of Behavior Charts (Man I never thought I'd say that!). IF IF IF You use one, PLEASE use a behavior contract along with it. It will make your life 10x easier. My girls give the contracts/chart a glowing recommendation, and I do too. I'm even thinking of using a modified version of one in my classroom next year.
Remember tomorrow is the deadline for Quest #1 (Organize your Shoes). I'm going to post my progress and I hope you do as well (KathiAnn has already bet us all to the punch.. WTG again!!!!)
In the meantime, Much love :)
Kelly