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Now that my son is school aged (6), I felt that we needed a new way to address rules and behavior in our home. Up until now, we had been using a color coded behavior chart, where we moved a clip up and down throughout the day, based on behavior. This was great when he was younger, but I felt he was now lacking some motivation. After researching token economy systems, I felt like one could be a good fit for our family. Simply put, a token economy awards tokens, or other items, when a child demonstrates desired behaviors. That all sounded great, but I know behavior systems can fall through when not reinforced enough or when not visible enough to a child. So, when I found out about the Goodtimer, I felt like it would be the perfect behavior tool for my son. The Goodtimer is interactive and encourages kids to keep behaving well throughout the day.
From their website:
“When your child makes good choices, they turn their Goodtimer on by flipping it right-side up. It's that simple. Goodtimer begins to glow green, an encouraging sound plays, and the device begins tracking 'Good Time'. Goodtimer displays your child’s performance by illuminating twelve glowing segments, similar to the hands of a clock. As your child continues to follow your house rules and earn more Good Time, more segments light up one-by-one, showing your child’s progress in a way that’s simple enough for a three-year-old to understand.”
What’s great about the Goodtimer, is that you use it in a way that’s right for your family. You can adjust the amount of time it takes to earn a token, you can decide what rewards your child earns, and you can decide how many tokens they need until they can trade them in for that reward. Most importantly, you focus on the rules and behaviors that your child needs to focus on.
We’ve been using the Goodtimer for a few weeks now and it really works for my son. He loves to watch it light up as he collects good time, and he likes the ding it makes when it reminds him he’s still doing a great job. He does not like when we have to flip it over, and it motivates him to correct his behaviors quickly. He just earned his first reward today after earning 60 tokens. He decided to save up for a bigger reward. At first the idea of having to wait for all the tokens seemed daunting to my son, but I believe it helps build perseverance and patience.
Also, make sure to download this cute free template to write down your family rules here.
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