Our Rewards Chart

Terrible two's? HA! They got nothin' on the turbulent three's! A year riddled with tantrums, defiance, independence, and talking back. And if you add strong-willed to that mix, you are likely ready to pull your hair out. After months of scouring the internet, reading books on discipline and reaching out to friends and family members for advice I was at the end of my rope. I had tried positive reinforcement, time-outs, ignoring the behavior, taking away toys and NOTHING was working. My three year old was still the same little tyrant, and maybe even a bit worse.
Then a little over two months ago, The Big One's sister was born and all hell broke loose! I seriously thought I was losing my mind, and the thought of a few nights in a padded room sounded like paradise! LOL. One night after the nightly four hour battle to get The Big One to sleep I sat on the couch in tears, armed with my laptop and the internet, determined to find the miracle cure-all. And then it hit me- Supernanny!
Supernanny is a show I love, and I decided to search for videos hoping one might have new techniques to try. I didn't find any videos, but what I did find was a Rewards Chart. I took the idea and made it my own and so far *fingers crossed* it is working! Here's what I did:

I went to Big Lots and purchased an 8x10 blank canvas and painted a park scene. I used some old stickers I had lying around in my scrapbook supplies. I stuck the ballerina on some card stock and cut her out.  This is what my chart/board looks like:

Reward Chart

I later added small circles of Velcro beside each number and Velcro on the back of the ballerina, so that is how we move and stick her to the chart.  We set certain expectations ahead of time ie; going to bed without any problems, eating all of her dinner, behaving when on an outing in public, etc. If she meets those expectations, she gets to move her ballerina forward one space.  (She also will have to move the ballerina backwards for back-talking, hitting, not listening, etc.)

Let me just warn you to be prepared for the melt-down the first time that ballerina goes in reverse! Yikes! The Big One had a tantrum like none other!

When The Big One reaches #5 she can choose a small trinket from her treasure chest:

I bought a Styrofoam cooler from K-Mart and painted it brown to look like a treasure chest. Inside I filled it with little toys and trinkets from the dollar store and Target's dollar bins. Initially the plan was that at #5 she get a prize and #10 would be a bigger deal, like going to Chuck-E-Cheese, or McDonald's play land, but we found that she often gets to 10  at night and wants that immediate gratification, so we just use the treasure chest for #5 and #10.

So far this has worked better than anything else I've tried. I highly recommend it. It cost me under $10 to make and around $25 a month to keep it stocked. To me, $25 is a small price to pay for a little sanity!

The Big One with her first prize from the chest.