How to Reward Children in Inexpensive Creative Ways Without Food ...?

"Reward Children in Inexpensive Creative Ways Without Food " Are you looking for a way to reward or punish your child without the use of food? Using food to reward or punish a child teaches the child to associate food with good and bad behaviors, which in turn teaches the child to become an emotional eater. It is proven that obesity in children and adults is often caused from emotional eating. America is now more obese than they have ever been. It is time for us to start teaching our children that food is a necessity for nutrition and not a reward. In this article I am going to give you ideas and suggestions for rewarding your child for good behaviors. I am also going to suggest why you might not want to reward your child, but use consequences instead. We all have our own ideas in raising our children and I wish you the best of luck with your choice. Whatever way you choose to reward your child, remember that the child did not learn these bad behaviors overnight or in a week. It is unlikely that the child will improve immediately, as it will take time and patience. If your child improves over the set time, but does not do perfectly, do not give up on them. Reward them for improvement and let them know that you expect them to do better for the next reward period. If you expect the child to be perfect, the child may feel like doing what you ask is impossible and they might just give up. One of the most common ways to reward children is through a chart. You can buy magnetic charts online or make one yourself. To make a chart you need to buy a magnetic board or a metal board. Some dry erase boards are magnetic. You can write the day of the week at the top and the chore or bad behavior down the side. Magnetic stars or other things that will stick can be used to reward the daily behaviors. In the chart reward system the child will be working for a period of time for a bigger reward. Filling a treasure chest with cheap inexpensive toys is another idea. Things that can be put in the chest are: Pencils & pens; erasers; Stickers; Balls; Noise makers; notepads; misc. novelty toys, etc. These items can be wrapped for a surprise or left unwrapped. Your child will be allowed to choose a present for doing what you ask them to do or for improving a bad behavior. Another good idea that I once used myself was to use stickers as a reward. You will need to make a chart with the behaviors or duties that your child needs to work on and purchase stars to be added to the chart. Inexpensive stars can be purchased at most retail stores. You get about 100 for a $1. I rewarded 2 stars daily. My children received 1 star if they had a good day at school and another star if they had a good day and night at home. After they accumulated so many stars they were given a special sticker that they could put into their special sticker books. Sticker books can be purchased at most retail stores and at many dollar stores. Or you can purchase blank paged books that work great as sticker books. You can save money by purchasing stickers in large quantities or you can purchase awesome theme stickers that are popular with children such as Dora The Explorer; Disney; Thomas The Train, Hannah Montana, etc. If you have an older child, you might be saying these are great ideas, but they will not work for my teenager. Well I have an idea that just might work. Purchase play money that you can reward your teenager with for doing whatever it is that you wish they would do. Make a list of things they like or like to do and put a value of play money beside it. When they earn enough play money they can exchange it for the reward of their choice. Ideas for their rewards: Game & movie rentals; extra text messages; an allowance; a ticket to a theme park or concert; an overnight friend, a slumber party or pool party, etc. Good luck with this! Source: http://www.xomba.com/rewarding_children_inexpensive_creative_ways_without_use_food