iRewardChart – Parenting and Positive Reinforcement Just Got Easier
Disciplining kids and, more importantly, giving positive reinforcement for their good behavior and hard work is what parenting is all about. The problem is, tracking all of the things your kids do (and don’t) do in order to facilitate rewards is not always easy. Unless you have an iPhone.
With iRewardChart from Got Clues, Inc., you can track your children’s completion of chores and good behavior. It works really simply.
After downloading the app, you ad children to track (one child or ten), giving just basic information such as their first name and an avatar photo. Then ad a list of rewards the children can earn, both large and small. Some built-in hints like “ice cream” and “extra bedtime story” are included in the app to get you started.
Every activity the child completes on your list of “to dos” earns them stars and each reward has a certain number of stars associated with it. So “ice cream” might be three stars while “new bicycle” might have a hundred.
When the children understand the system, after you explain it to them, they’ll work hard to earn those rewards. Cleaning up their room might be worth a star while going to bed on time might be worth another. Getting an “A” on a report card might be worth 50 points and doing their homework might be worth two stars.
The rewards and allotment of stars is up to you and the kids. Each child has their own list of rewards so that you don’t have to mix-and-match rewards that are inappropriate. Your 8 year old girl might not want the same things your 5 year old son might want.
Overall, the app is useful and fun and, when used with your children so they can see their progress, it can be a real motivator. Especially when it pays off and they get what they’re after. You can also let the child peruse the rewards list and choose when they want to cash in their stars to get what they want.
There is both a free and paid version of this app. The premium version is only $4.99 and is worth it once you’ve tried the free version to be sure it will work for you.
