As a parent, there are a few things you’ll need to do if you want to have a peaceful, happy life for you and your children, and if you want to help them learn some important life lessons, and combining those things into one is a great idea – it’s going to make everything a lot easier and give you more time to focus on getting it right.
The one thing we’re thinking about today is rewarding a child, which is actually a lot more important than you might think – it’s something that can reinforce good behavior and show that you’re paying attention to their achievements, so it can definitely do a lot of good. But how to do it without spoiling the child and going overboard? Don’t worry; we’ve got some tips to help you, so keep reading to find out more.
Use A Sticker Chart
One great way to reward a child is to use a sticker chart – you can even design your own special stickers and use sticker printing to ensure you’ve got a nice stock of them (unique stickers will make the chart even more exciting and be really motivating for the child too).
The great thing about a sticker chart is that it means the child isn’t rewarded immediately because they’ll have to reach a certain number of stickers first, and if the chart is on display, they’ll easily be able to see what they’ve still got to do to get their reward, whatever it might be. To make the whole thing work, you’ll need to ensure the child knows what they have to do to get rewarded because randomly awarding stickers isn’t going to help them – they won’t understand what they did to get the prize.
Quality Time and Activities
If there’s one thing a child generally wants more than anything else, it’s quality time with their parent or parents, but sadly, that’s one thing that’s often in short supply – and that’s no one’s fault because we all have to work and we’re all busy people. However, if you can set some time aside for one hundred percent focus on your child, whether that’s at home or out and about, that’s going to be a fantastic reward (and you’ll enjoy it too), and it’s going to be highly motivating.
You can do all kinds of things, from a game night to outdoor adventures to creative things at home and so on. Whatever it is, once your child has earned the reward you need to be fully invested, so put away your phone and laptop, take a day off work and chores, and really enjoy yourself – that’s the kind of reward that benefits everyone.
Special Privileges
You’re going to have rules for your kids about what they can and can’t do, but what if one of the rewards on offer was to bend those rules a little and get some extra privileges? We’re not talking about doing anything dangerous or ‘naughty’, that would be silly, but we are talking about things such as extra screen time, a later bedtime, choosing the next family meal, and so on.
They might be little things to you, but to a kid who has to follow the rules, this is huge, and definitely worth being on their best behavior to achieve.