Behavior Incentive For Kids

Want your kids to act right? 🤣 

If you’ve been a parent for any length of time, you understand kids don’t come with a handbook.

Sure, there are a thousand books out there on how to raise your kids right…

But even then, each individual kid is different.

On my visit to Tacoma a few weeks ago, I was talking with my younger sister (who doesn’t YET have kids) about parenting…

And how you go from thinking you know it all to recognizing how little we really know once we have them.

Can you relate?

Recently we started prioritizing what we could do to properly incentivize our two young children to WANT to help/listen/be kind even when they didn’t feel like doing those things.

And we didn’t want it to just be some temporary fix.

We wanted the motivation to be deeply rooted and relative to what they would face as adults.

That Meant Bribes Weren’t The Answer

Bribery is when you give a child something in exchange for them doing something they don’t want to do (I’ll give you ice cream if you put away your laundry).

Bribes often come out of frustration.

On the other hand, a reward or incentive is set up ahead of time and is given when your child does something you ask them to do or that they know they should do.

We Needed to Incentivize Our Kids The Right Way

As adults, we are incentivized.

For example, if you consistently show up and do your job exceptionally well, you can earn a raise or bonus.

If you serve your customers at a higher level or get them a bigger result than they are accustomed to, you are likely to earn more business, a company trip or more money.

And if you are lazy and don’t follow through on what you say you’ll do, we all know there are consequences for that as well.

But with kids, the incentives not only have to be fun, but often must include some physical component or game that they can interact with to really get the lesson…

And the most important part is consistency from mom + dad to follow through.

(This is often the hardest piece)

After considering a few different incentive ideas (penny jars, chore charts, sticker charts), we were excited to attempt this one we came across:

The Goodtimer is an award-winning educational toy that encourages kids (ages 2-12) to learn healthy habits using positive reinforcement, tangible incentives, and family participation. 

How Does The Goodtimer Work?

When your child is following your “house rules,” their Goodtimer is right-side-up and they’re earning ‘Good Time’ which is tracked by a soothing green glow.

If your child breaks a house rule, simply instruct them to flip their Goodtimer over (which then stops earning of Good Time) until they make it right.

Unlike timeouts that punish bad behavior, this proven Time-In approach allows your family to come together to teach your child to make choices that are consistent with the house rules.

As your child continues throughout the day, more segments are filled with green lights, demonstrating their progress in a way that’s simple enough for a toddler to understand. 

When ALL glowing segments are illuminated, they'll earn a Goodtimer token that they can spend for pre-determined incentives (that you pick out) that are exciting and motivating to YOUR child.

You can adjust what they can earn and how many tokens it takes to earn it. It will probably evolve over time like it did for us.

A Real World Example of Behavior Modification

Previously, our kids were using too many cups during the day. It wasn’t a big deal, but we didn’t need any more stuff to clean up.

So…we added it to our house rules:

New Cup = 5 Tokens

They get to choose if they spend 5 tokens on a new cup. But instead of just getting a new cup, now they start thinking about other things they could spend those tokens on (the opportunity cost).

As a result, they now usually just use their one cup for the entire day.

They would rather spend tokens on more important things.

Simple, but effective. Right?

ONE YEAR later, Are We Still Excited About It?

Absolutely.  

It has been one of the most consistent systems we have in our home that our children are motivated by.

Riser hates when his Goodtimer has been turned over and is extremely quick to make it right so that Haven doesn’t earn more tokens than him.

Haven is learning how to be more careful with her spending choices because she spends her tokens much more freely than Riser.

And as a family we get to talk about the consequences of our actions in a more healthy and non-emotional way. Less screaming. Less threats. It’s something we can all fall back on.

Pro Tip: Have your kids cash out their tokens before they go to bed each night (if they don’t cash them out as soon as they’re earned). Otherwise, they might start to forget the power of the Good Time that they earn.

So, if you’re a parent who wants to set your kids up for success in the real world, while reducing stress, threats, or bribes…then consider picking up the Goodtimer for you kid(s) age 2-12.

Normally the Goodtimer goes for $50-$60.

You can get it on their site directly HERE (no affiliate link)

Let us know your experience when you get one!

Until next time, own what matters : )

Sarah, Brian, Riser & Haven

P.S. If you don’t have an emergency fund with 6 months of living expenses saved…OR a separate account set up to acquire assets…we recommend you don’t buy what we just reviewed. Instead, reply with the phrase “budgeting sucks” and we will get you access to a powerful app that allows you to put your cash flow on autopilot.

P.P.S. If you haven’t answered life’s most important question, anything else we talk about is irrelevant. So consider watching a few minutes or more of this (Click Here)

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