Points Reward/Discipline System

My "Points" system has been a work in progress for over a year now. 

Basically I needed a way to motivate my kids to help out, finish their food and be nice to one another.  I am not a huge fan of bribery, so this was the happy medium for me.

The nice thing about my system is I NEVER buy my kids anything.  They earn everything they get and I never have to deal with my kids whining at the store. 

Here's how it works:

Every time my kids do something that merits a reward I give them a "point"  I mark a little dry erase chart that I got at the dollar store.  Each kid has their own chart. 

Lucy's cart has different categories because she is more motivated to do specific things if she can see how well she is doing in some areas such as: cleaning, helping, peace making, etc.  This also stops her from asking me a million times a day, "What can I do to earn a point?"

Each of the charts is divided into two sections.  The sections are for "point store" and "toys" 

Each point is the monetary equivalent to 10 cents.  If they want something out of "point store" (a basket I fill with candies, soda, small toys, etc.) each item has been marked with a point value.  They can also earn big toys.  When I award points I put one point in the Point Store section and one point in the Toy section. 

If we are ever at the store and my kids start begging me for some toy or candy, I can buy it for them and put it in Point Store.  Win-win.  They stop crying and they actually aren't getting anything without earning it. 

Lucy is quickly learning that she can pick some awesome stuff for point store, but the more expensive the item, the longer it takes her to save up Toy Points to get it.  Like if she is eyeing something for 20 bucks I can say, "Yeah... we can put it in point store, but it'll cost you 200 points..."

I also only allow each kid to have 2 toys in point store at a time.  I'm not made of money.  It also encourages them to get the toys that are already in there out, so they can put something new in. 

The point system also works greats for discipline.  Trust me, there are still tears when I take points away for bad behavior.  This actually works a lot better for me than time outs and spankings if I erase the points immediately and they actually watch their marks disappear.  It is equally important for them to watch you give points so they feel that sense of pride and accomplishment.  I put my boards prominently in the kitchen so the kids can always see them, compare and be excited about where they are at. 

When I first started the point system my kids had to earn TV time and game time with points as well.  That worked for a little while, but once you let them have a freebie once it's hard to get them back on track, and let's face it, sometimes you just need your kids to watch the TV whether they've earned it or not. 

That's the jist of it.  It has worked great for my now 4 and 6 year old but I started when they were 3 and 5 and it's evolved slightly but for the most part I'm pleased with how it's worked.