Ticket System - Motivating and Promoting Positive Behavior

I must say, parenting sure does have a lot of challenges, and we just have to do our best to get through them. Cooper is almost 4 and a half now and is testing his limits, and our limits. I am tired of being so negative with him, which only makes every situation worse. So, I have been researching the best ways to promote positive behavior and figure out how to get him to start doing what we ask when we ask him. I really liked this article on Dr. Sears website.  I've decided to try and use the "Ticket System". I have poker chips at home that I will use as the tickets. I plan on giving Cooper two free tokens in the morning each day in a jar that will be put in a high traffic area for all to see at our house. He can earn more by doing his assigned chores every day, being helpful and nice to others, getting ready for school, etc. Below is the list of positive behaviors I made and plan on going over with him today.

 I also made a list (with room for one more) of negative behaviors I don't want him using anymore. When he does these things, I will be taking tokens away. Getting up to early is a weird one to have on the list, I know, but we have a REAL problem with him getting up unacceptably early (even the birds are asleep) and freaking out when I tell him he needs to go back to sleep because it is not time to get up yet...

 

At the end of the week, Cooper can cash in his tokens for his choice of a reward depending on how many he saves up. I might have to adjust this chart, or come up with smaller rewards for quicker satisfaction during the weeknights, but we'll see. 

 

I'm excited to try this out, and so is Cooper. Tonight I will go over it all with him, hang it on the kitchen door or somewhere else very visible, get out the tokens and begin our token system. I'll report back next week to tell you how this goes. I know it will require some work from Frank and I to do this, but it will be good for us to really look for the positives and hopefully eliminate some of the negative behaviors we're seeing. If any of you all have attempted something like this, please share! Also, if you would like the word document or a PDF of the system, comment below and I can send you the files. Wish us luck!