Behavior Points | Awarding and Subtracting

You and the kids will be a bit point crazy when you first begin using the Kid Pointz behavior reward system. You will be requested to award points for every little behavior and the kids will be eager to earn whatever you have set up in their store. But don't worry, the good behaviors become good habits quickly, and along with way the bar will be raised, the rules made more challenging, and the program will become second nature to all of you.

Tips to help Reward Kids for Good Behavior

Start the program on the first day by awarding your kids a bonus level for being such great kids. The reason is that you do not want to get in a situation where you subtract points the first day and you have to explain what negative points are. Be sure you determine the value of a point before you add items to your store. Be gentle when subtracting points. You'll find you get cheers when you add points but a lot of push back, argument and tears when you subtract them.

Resist the urge to award and subtract points for every little behavior. At first this will be difficult, but after the first week, let your kids know certain behaviors are expected with no reward, and it is the extra effort they put in that is getting rewarded.

Award more points when kids follow behaviors on their own without being asked. Don't tell your kids each time points are subtracted. Kids will predictably argue that they don't deserve the point subtraction, it wasn't their fault, and that you shouldn't have subtracted that many points. Instead, just make a note using the web or smart phone application and talk to the child about the point subtraction during a family discussion night or later on in the day/week.

Be careful not to let your kids to accumulate too many points. It's a wonderful thing if your kids get into the program and especially when they start improving their behaviors. Consider setting a rule that everything over a certain number of points goes into a long term college or other savings plan. Otherwise, the child will have too many points relative to items in their store and will not be as motivated in the program.