Job charts for the children

For those who know me, I have been vocal on how crazy my children have been lately. I am home right now recovering from an injury to my back and the children are making my recovery more challenging. How? Well, nothing says pain like tripping over My Little Pony figurines or stepping on Legos when one's back is already hurting.

To regain my sanity (and to reduce the chances of hurting myself more) I made job charts for my children.

From the categories, you know what my children are struggling with. Miriam is nearly eight years old and we are still having issues with listening, picking up toys, and being kind to her brother. Benjamin is five years old and due to his medical condition, we still struggle with potty training, but the tantrums are ruling our lives right now.

I sat down with the children and explained what I was going to do and why. I also asked them what categories I should have to see if we were on the same page. Miriam was old enough to figure out that what I am fussing about is what I want done whereas Ben needed some nudging. Once we had the categories done, we agreed on a reward system. If reading about B.F. Skinner taught me anything, it was that we need to shape the behavior we want and if you want a behavior to last, punishment is not how you make it last, reward is the key. Now, with three years difference, the goals needed to be obtainable, so for Miriam, if she gets a magnet in each day for a category she gets a sticker. When she has three stickers at the end of a week, she gets a prize. After two weeks, she will need to get four stickers to get a prize. After four weeks, it will be five stickers. And finally, after six weeks, she will need six stickers to get a reward. Once we are up to the behaviors I wish to have for the week, the long term goal will be to maintain them, so I will up the ante: it will take more stickers to get bigger rewards. I can also change the categories to include more age appropriate categories and give an allowance. For Ben, the system will be the same except he still gets a sticker for a category if he misses two days in the week and he starts with only needing  two stickers to get a prize. The added bonus was that we discuss our day before going to bed which is a nice summary skill.

How did I make them? It was very easy and really quite cheap. What you will need (I had almost everything in my house, but you might have to stop off at the Dollar Tree and/or Kmart):

1. metal cookie sheet (Dollar Tree)
2. craft paint/ house paint (I used semi-gloss white house paint)
3. a flexible ruler for the lines
4. permanent markers (I had the children choose their colors)
5. magnets (enough for 7 x the number of categories; the most expensive part of the craft)
6. stickers
7. ribbon (to hang the chart off of)
8. hot glue gun and sticks (to glue the ribbon on)
9. hook (whatever kind you want for wherever you will hang the chart, I use 3M removable)
10. small prizes for the rewards

Once you have items assembled, paint the metal cookie sheet and allow to dry for about three hours. Using a flexible ruler, make the lines on the painted surface. I gave myself two inches of space at the top and then spaced lines one inch apart for the categories. I wrote the categories first and then gave myself about an inch square for each day of the week. Once all categories and days of the week are labeled, flip the cookie sheet over and hot glue the ribbon onto the back. I don't have a measurement, I eyeballed the length based on how low I wanted the chart to hang. I used 3M hooks on their bedroom doors. Done in less than four hours, and most of the time was waiting for the paint to dry!

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Update:

This is what was accomplished after one week.