Towers and Tokens - a reward system.

I've decided to share a reward system that I have put together for our kids that I think is a really good idea and we were able to use it successfully in our test bed household all summer to get the results I was hoping for.  I'm thinking about putting together a prototype package, and seeing what we can do with it as an educational product, but I'm sharing the idea for free right now on my blog for all 10 of my blog followers...;)

I'm a big believer in keeping the kids motivated and on task over the summer months in regards to reading, writing, and other skills or talents they are attempting to master along with having a great time over the summer.

I know there are reading programs around that are sponsored by the different libraries and the kids do participate with that, but it's a big pain to ensure that they are following through with the daily grind without hovering over them constantly to get their stuff done.  I know that I will never be able to eliminate that part of parenting altogether, but I did want to see if I could eliminate some of the overhead associated with it

I needed to come up with a process that could motivate them to do the daily grind while ensuring they were accomplishing the goals set for them in an efficient manner in which it was easy to observe and keep track of their progress.  What I came up with was Towers to Tokens.

First off, there is a task sheet that is filled out by the parent for each child.  There is a color for each task that the parent wants accomplished and an amount of time for each task to be completed.  See the example below.

I sat down with my kids and explained the tasks I expected from them for each color, and each child has a different card.  I then ordered a set of colored cubes that connect to each other and correspond with the colors we used.  They get a cube of the matching color when they accomplish each task.  

They then in turn build a tower with the cubes.  The tower consists of every color of task they are expected to perform in a day.  The tasks I selected covered exercise, learning, eating habits, and the practicing of musical instruments.  Pretty much the things I wanted each child to work on on a daily basis.  I then limited them to 2 towers a day.  I have one child that would build towers until he owned the world if we removed that stipulation.  I also have another child I have to remind more often than not to work on his tower before he can watch TV or play.

Here's a partial tower compared to Coop's paper.

Here is that same partial tower as the individual cubes.

OK, so each day I encourage the kids to build their towers.  Some days are better than others, but at a quick glance I can see where they are in their progress.  At the end of the day, and at the most ONLY once a day I announce that I am now taking Towers for Tokens and the kids are allowed to "cash" in any completed towers for a gold plastic token.  Up to two a day.  They then get to collect these gold tokens for prizes and the cubes are recycled into a gallon baggie for reuse the next day.

I went with Thank You tokens to represent gold coins, but it's whatever works.  I do keep close stock of these.  To avoid problems, I keep tally on a sheet of paper of who has how many of the tokens.

The final step is the ultimate reward.  Every Sunday the opportunity is given to exchange tokens for different prize categories.  The categories are valued at 5 tokens, 10 tokens, and 25 tokens.

Some examples of 5 token prizes:

candy bar

snow cone

$1 download to device (We have Kindles and Apple products)

Pack of Gum

geode to break open

10 token prizes:

One on one dinners with a parent

$5 shopping spree

$5 downloads to device

One on one movie with parent

Educational games

1 friend stay overnight

25 token prizes:

glow in the dark ant farm

circuit kit

2 friends over for sleep over

3 friends bowling

$10 shopping trip

2 friends to a movie

Family Trip to Zoo as the VIP

Family Trip to 6 Flags as the VIP

(VIP packages include such things as sitting in the front seat.  Getting to go first in line.  Picking the order of rides.)

Some of the prizes can be specifically selected, but many of them are written on a piece of paper a finite number of times in a prize baggy that they draw from.  There is a baggy for each prize level.  It adds a game aspect to the whole process and if they choose to draw from the bag they don't know what they just cashed in for until they draw it!  Could be a $10 shopping trip or taking 2 friends to a movie.  It keeps the kids excited!  However, each baggy contains a prize considered to be of that level and the kids are aware of the types of prizes they are drawing for in each bag.

I took the pics to add to this blog, but now I'm thinking a prize wall (pictures of the winner and his/her prize) might be useful to remind them of how it felt to be rewarded for all that work....(The items in the pictures are items they are still actually trying to earn...:)  )

It may sound like a lot of hassle, but the whole process is relatively simple.  It is working well for us so far and we plan to continue to implement it when school starts back up.  I think it will also be easy to modify as we go.  Times and tasks.  If I do a prototype, I think I will get the cards custom made as dry erase boards.

We are pleased with the results and the kids like it.  I can see huge possibilities with the whole reward process and we have considered the importance of each component.

There is an instant sense of accomplishment with receiving the cube. 

 A daily goal of accomplishing at least one tower.  

Through the tokens they get a tangible component to monitor their work towards longer term goals.  

They are allowed to experience both great excitement and even disappointment if the prize they draw for is what they wanted or not exactly what they hoped for.

They learn to save and to get through the daily grind that is required to save successfully.

I have more, but you get the idea.

And regardless of the prize box they build up to, 5, 10, or 25, as a parent you have to stop and think...well, that's 5 vegetables he ate, or well, that's 5 hours of reading she did over the summer so far....every time they cash those tokens in for a prize.

Some things that we experienced and modified as we went:

I started allowing children to save up their tokens to "share" on larger prizes. (The girls are currently working together to work for the 25 tokens needed for the ant farm.

In the beginning our kids cashed out early and regretted not waiting ( A lesson I liked for them to learn) 

 That $1 game or candy bar is not as rewarding when they see someone else getting to invite a friend over.

I understand that the kids hold a different value to each task that a cube is earned for and there are just some things you really don't like to do much.  With that in mind, if I need something done and they don't barter or complain, from time to time when they are done I offer them a cube of their choice for doing it in lieu of the task itself.  I also use this strategy if I see them doing something above and beyond. 

On the other hand, I have caught a couple of them being less than honest with collecting cubes for tasks they have not completed to an expected level with harsh and quick consequences. 

 In one case the child lost all 8 tokens that had been saved up.

Well, I'm not a Child Psych major, and I haven't researched much on this process, but it has been effective for us.  My wife will criticize me for putting this out on the net for free, but I believe in the spirit of free information.   If one of you 10 are motivated enough to make a product line out of this, hit me up.  I've got some more ideas and maybe we can make something  of it..:)

Good Luck!

Blogging Family

Inspiration

Well, I spent a great deal of my free time this  past week playing with "blogging features".  The battle did not end in my favor, but I did learn quite a bit.

I put together a pretty nifty newsletter this past holiday season with a lot of bells and whistles in MS Word and I tried publishing it directly to the blog, but alas there seems to be a problem with registering Word 2010 to the Blogger blog site.  I guess MS and Google are not playing nice regrading that particular integration.  I had some hits where other people ran into the same issue with no posted resolutions.  I stopped at 3 and then tried One Note, but it looks like copy and paste or using the blog's limited editor are my only options.

I liked what I was able to do with the Newsletter and the pictures with Word, but I'm not going to be able to import it into my blog.  If you did not get to see it when I posted it the first time and you are interested, you'll need to find the link to it on my Facebook page.  However, since I absolutely loved some of the pictures I used in it (taken by Lorie Payne, not me), I'm going to use them on this blog post too.

This blog is just a shout out to the little hooligans that I interact with on a daily basis and of whom stories will be shared from time to time.  My perspective of the little critters and the stories about them, anyway.  I'm sure their telling of events will usually differ from mine, but they can get their own blogs when and if they decide they need to be heard!  I'm not saying my perspective of the stories will be made up or anything like that, I'm just saying you can hear the same events from two different people and it is amazing how different the story is.  I've sat in on "reminiscing" circles a time or two with old friends retelling stories from the "glory" days, smiling the whole while, chuckling audibly when appropriate, and maybe even nodding in agreement to progress the speakers story, and the whole time thinking to myself....."Damn, dude, you must have done some wicked-ass drugs at some point, because that is not how I recall things AT ALL!"

Now I'm sure there are at least a certain percentage of you out there that are thinking right now, "I'd just correct their story so it's more accurate to how things happened and put the record straight!"  Well, while I know there is validity and honor in keeping a story honest and true, mostly what is usually running through my head in those situations, greatly dependent on the person telling the story, of course, is that maybe their story is a better version of what really happened and other versions of the story could have implications that I was more involved in what transpired than I would like everyone to recall.  To draw a clearer picture of what I'm trying to say is more often than not there are usually people included in the "reminiscing" sessions that KNOW stories about my younger version that may include a bad decision or two on my part and at the time I find no need to steer the telling in THAT direction, if you know what I mean.  My kids are also getting old enough now that there are certain stories I would prefer not cross their ears until they're past certain stages in life and don't get any ideas from hearing stories of MY past mistakes.

Back to the blog at hand....

  My wife and I have 4 kids that go boy, boy, girl, girl.  I have decided that since this blog is public I will only refer to them by the first letter of their first name, B1 and B2 for the girls.  I use their names on Facebook,  but I am more careful with whom I share that information.  I am not a naive person and I know enough about software and the internet to know that the information on my kids could be gathered from various spots to come up with their names by somebody who wanted to know badly enough, but I have put other precautions in place to protect them the best I can in this day and age of information consumption.

T is the oldest at 9 years old and B2 is 5.  C and B1 fall in the middle representing ages 7 and 8.  Come May, B2 will turn 6 and we will once again have their ages officially by number 1 year apart until August when T hits double digits.  I know what you're thinking.  How did you manage to put up with a woman who was pregnant for damn near 4 solid years? Sheer fortitude and the patience of an angel, I tell you... Oh, that wasn't what you were thinking?  Yeah, yeah, she handled pregnancies well.  If you ask me, she liked it because it was pregnancy-brain this and pregnancy-brain that.  You mark my word, if that woman is ever featured on the show, SNAPPED she'll try to work pregnancy-brain into the defense!

When I wrote the part of T being in double digits, I stopped and at first thought, "Holy crap! 10 years of being a responsible, mature adult!"  Then I was like, "Ok, probably more like 5 years!  Well, at least responsible."  And then I considered the perception thing again and there are probably those out there that would think, "Well, responsible enough to not be incarcerated...." and finally my wife's perception would probably be closer to, "Well, he appropriately uses silverware in most public settings.." but I'm not sure we'd be able to get her to commit to putting me and maturity in the same group of words if she thought we were going to try to make a sentence out of them.  Perception, right?  Good thing mine is the one that matters.

Anyway, 4 closely knitted, bright, loving, creative, funny, compassionate, trusting, goofy kids who get along well with each other and who are more than enough to bless any parent more than he deserves.  We have our good moments and bad.  There are fights and tantrums, arguing and frustrations, but overall a functioning and loving family.   If you are more observant than the average Joe, you'll notice that normal did not make the description list.  They never really stood a chance of being "normal".  Entertaining, though.  They are definitely entertaining!

Well, if you're still reading, I imagine I've taken enough of your time for one day.  If you haven't read my past blogs, please do.  Comment if you'd like to.  I am open to feed back and promise to only cry on the inside at the criticisms..;)  Hug one or all of YOUR little hooligans tonight and then think of a prank to pull on them tomorrow!  God Bless.