When child behavior experts speak about changing behavior, often they lapse into a philosophical discussion about modifying behavior. At times these discussions, while valuable, can become generalizations about behavior change, rather than discussing the specifics about individualized tools to change behavior.

Many parents that I speak with “get” why behavior modification is important, they understand many of the principles involved, they recognize that there are healthy as well as unhealthy ways to go about it, and they can see how positive behavior change can benefit their children and themselves.

Sometimes when parents are searching for a solution for their child’s bad or inappropriate behavior they can get so caught up in the various arguments and counterarguments about parenting methods, techniques and tips that you can almost hear them crying out:

“I just want to know what tools are out there to help me change my child’s behavior?”

Effective tools to help change behavior

Any information and knowledge that can make you a better parent is fantastic, but sometimes parents have heard enough and just want a tangible product or tools for behavior change, that they can start using right away.

The tools and strategies for behavior change that I have used successfully with my children include reward charts, behavior contracts, token economy, sticker charts, lucky dip rewards, and “I Did It!” certificates. While I sell some of these fantastic ready-to-go products on this website, with a bit of creativity, materials and effort you can make your own easily enough. Or you can get some of our great free reward charts here.

You can check out the articles below for further ideas on tools to change behavior.

Reward or discipline your children anywhere…anytime with our specially designed token economy!

Fundamentally a Token Economy is a form of behavior modification whereby tokens are rewarded for appropriate behavior and the tokens may be cashed in for valued rewards.

Just think about it… your child listens well ….. does what they’re told …. acts kindly towards others …… plays well with their brother……. shares their toys … packs up after themselves …. in fact whenever they behave well they earn a token, they collect them, and they get to spend their tokens on valued rewards.

Maybe you are already using a token economy system. Your child does their chores and they earn their pocket money at the end of the week. If we break this token economy down further we can see that there is an expectation on your child, your child fulfils this expectation and then rewarded for doing so. Not so different from the adult world right? We operate in our own token economy – we work, or we keep house, or we choose to be stay-at-home parents. We complete these commitments and we earn money through wages, allowances, advances, benefits or whatever else and the reward is we get to accumulate, spend or donate this money however we choose – in every sense this should be considered a token economy.

Why Using a Token Economy is So Great

• A great way to improve behavior… positively!
• A token economy system can be extremely beneficial to our kids.
• It can help kids focus on improving behavior.
• Using a token economy system gives kids the power to “own” their behavior both good and bad.
• Teaches the importance of delayed gratification.
• Allows kids to be responsible for their behavior.
• A token economy is a great strategy to use with older children, as well as the younger age groups.
• Is a proven effective strategy for parents…
• … and using a token economy is simply great fun!

Using behavior contracts along with a token economy can also be a great guide and focus to both you, as a parent, and your child. These behavior contracts allow us to be very specific about expectations. It can be a great opportunity to sit down together and brainstorm about expected behaviour, unacceptable behaviour, and about what rewards may be on offer. They can be a fantastic way of laying a foundation for the use of a token economy. Behavior contracts require acknowledgment by parent and child (our behavior contracts require a signature by both which can make the behavior contract more “official”). These work well with both older and younger kids.

A token economy is great for us parents as well. It gives us a chance to really watch out for our child’s good behaviour and immediately reward it. I’m a parent and I know how often my children can be annoying, inappropriate, or rude and sometimes I’m so focused on bad behavior that I neglect or don’t even notice their good behavior – their small acts of kindnesses, their sharing, their thoughtfulness or simply their doing as they’re told. By using a token economy we can reward such behavior immediately. We can improve our child’s behavior, manage the tension of the household and most importantly we can help to improve our child’s self-esteem.

If you’ve browsed around our website you might have come across our reward chart rules which in the main also apply to our Star Coins token economy and behavior contracts. The key to using a token economy is to Be Positive, Be Consistent, Be Realistic and Be Fair.

If you use your imagination there are many ways that you can implement a token economy. You can make your own tokens, or tickets, or you can even cut out paper shapes to hand out. You can also make your own behavior contracts. Of course here at RewardingKids.com we have our very own Star Coins token economy for sale.

We have designed and developed our token economy to be great quality, durable, fun and plentiful (130 quality, plastic tokens can go a long way!)

RewardingKids Token Economy System