Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Power of a Sticker

I am always amazed at the power of a sticker.

I try very hard not to use rewards for my children, but there have been a few times that I have found them very useful.   My children love stickers, and I keep them as a rare treat - mainly so that they keep their power.  I have used sticker charts 4 times in the past, and am using a new one the last day or two.  Because they have not been used often, and stickers are used rarely, they are very motivating for my kids.

I used a sticker chart for potty training for both Delta and Echo.   Last year, when I was expecting Foxtrot, and knew that we would need to move Delta into the back of the mini-van, we used a sticker chart for doing up his carseat.  (Delta doesn't weigh very much, so is still in a 5 point harness car seat.)  Delta has also had one for practicing the violin for a while.

Well, now we are training Echo to do her carseat up by herself.  She had succesfully done it a handfull of times, but wouldn't make the effort.  (It was also a lot harder earlier with winter coats....)   Well, yesterday I setup a stickerchart, and she has done herself up everytime since (earning 8 stickers so far) - and I have moved her carseat to the back.   

In a week or so, I will print up a certificate for her that she can do up her carseat - and that will be it!

Gotta love the power of a sticker!

2 comments:

Paula said...

Hm, I should try that more often!
I love you blog, by the way--our children are the same ages--5, 3, and 1. We do modified Suzuki--modified because I could not find a good local Suzuki program, so we make do with a different violin program supplemented with mom's Suzuki background (maybe the reason I have trouble finding a program I like is I compare them all to the fantastic Suzuki teacher I had as a kid :-)

Suzuki Mom said...

Thanks Paula!

As I mentioned, I use it VERY sparingly, but it seems to work like a charm for some things!

I wish I had violin training, but am learning with my son.