Job Rewards System

The job system I have set up for my kids had grown stale; I would assign points with signatures on the refrigerator and then award prizes out of a box.  Unfortunately, my daughter tried to sneak some of the prizes, so I put them in a cupboard out of reach.  Out of sight, out of mind. :(

I used my husband as a sounding board.  What would work?  Should I hang them on a clothesline?  Should I stick them to the outside of cupboard?  What if I displayed them on the wall a la Chucky Cheese?  (We'd been to two birthday parties last weekend, both were at arcades with prize walls.).  I liked this idea, but where would I put it so that 1) it didn't take so much work I wouldn't upkeep it 2) the kids couldn't sneak things easily and 2) it needs to not look tacky.  This is my home after all!

My exhaustion-induced OCD babbling continued until about 12:30 a.m. when I finally struck upon the idea that I'd go with:  I'd tape poster board to the inside of a cabinet's glass window and affix prizes and coupons to it with mounting puddy!  This particular cabinet is on the side of our TV and isn't used as much as the other side so I wouldn't be blocking anything vital.

I went to the Dollar Tree and bought 1 piece of blue poster board for $0.69.  (Blue is a nice neutral color for a background, helping things look clean and professional.). I also got a package of white circle stickers, like what is used in a yard sale.  I already had a package of mounting puddy on hand otherwise I could have picked up one of those, too.  Next I measured the glass opening.  Mine came out to being 15" wide and (30?)" tall.  I cut a piece out and tried it out in the window.  It went down leaving one shelf exposed, just as I had planned.  I took the remaining piece, which happened to be the perfect width of the shelf, and folded it in half long-wise.  I stood it up (like an A-frame) a ways back on the shelf to give a nice solid background so I have continuous color with the rest of the display, but a bit of shelf space to put larger items on.

I decorated the poster board with a Sharpie marker and a gold paint-pen to make it look fancy.  Then I started putting up points.  I'd already had a points system where 7 pts = $1.  I did this so my kids could earn up to two points a day, seven days a week, and earn two $1 prizes.  You use whatever points-to-dollar value you like, but this works for my family.  (My teenager has his own separate allowance.  This was devised for my 9 and 5 year-olds but I'm sure with adjustment it can work for nearly any age.)  I put stickers on the items for their value; 7 for a $1 item, 1 for a small piece of candy, 20 on a more expensive toy, etc.  I put them up on the prize wall and my kids got really excited.  Little did I realize how excited that the kids I daycare for would be even more excited. lol. Its fine with their mom so I'm letting them participate, too.

Now it's time for the tickets.  When I started this design, I just did rectangles.  I wasn't really thrilled with the result.  Then I recalled another project I did several years ago for a kids carnival.  I went over to that file and stole the background I had created, resized it, and filled a whole page!  I made a few colors so no one "mistakes" another ticket for their own.  Click on the files to download them for free!  If you want a black and white version that you can print onto colored paper (or not), I made a version of that, too.

  

 Right away the kids were asking (demanding) ways to earn tickets. lol. So the very first job was to help cut out the tickets. :D. It's so nice having help and not having to cut by myself for hours.  Then I went on to start writing a list of ways they can earn tickets; vacuum 1 room, mop 1 room, use especially good manners or kindness.  There are *many* jobs that can be done around a home, or even volunteer work elsewhere, depending on the individual kiddos ability.  While I have set jobs that my kids *must* do every day (i.e. pick up their toys), all the things on this list are extra jobs that they have the option of working on.  If they do them, we both win.  If they choose not to, I wont coerce them into it, but they wont be getting the extra treat either.

Now that I had the kids doing some house cleaning, I have a few minutes to work on Golden Tickets; rewards that aren't a tangible object at that moment.  I.e. extra t.v. time, a hamburger from their favorite fast food joint, or a shopping spree at a thrift store.  Some of these can only be redeemed after they've finished their required jobs for the day.  They're not going to get to play on Mom's computer if they goofed around instead of picking up their room.

I can share the blank template with you here, but I cannot share my completed Golden Tickets for a few reasons: 1) Your point values may be very different than mine and 2) I used clip art off the internet that I don't have the right to redistribute.

My kids have only been doing this for a few days but already they've purchased some small pieces of candy, freed some toys from Toy Timeout, bought a Golden Ticket to redeem later, and still have some tickets saved up for bigger prizes. :D Over time I will add or replace prizes to keep the incentive going, but I have high hopes that my kids will be able to keep an eye on the prize! ;)