Radio Commentary
It can be fun for children to create a “success chart” by designing a bar graph or a line graph to show progress on various tasks.
Be sure to keep the goals realistic. You might want to coordinate the plan with your child’s teacher, factoring in school effort or improvement.
Start out with small goals so your child can gain some positive momentum that can lead to larger successes. Talk with your child to increase their understanding and buy-in.
Building in incentives can be an important part of this activity.
Figure out what types of incentives work best in your family.
Rewards like a family activity, movie, or a computer game rental might be the right way to go.
Monetary rewards for reaching a goal might be appropriate if children learn to save it for something they really want, or use it to support an important cause.
Though positive reinforcement is an effective tool in changing behavior, everyone reacts differently. What is right for one child might not work well for another, so work with each child individually.
Allowing your children to chart their own progress is a great way for them to see and experience results.
And seeing improvement in such a graphic fashion can show them that their efforts do actually pay off. The hope is that they will see that hard work yields graphic results.
