Better Than A Behavior Chart

Just mentioning "behavior chart" to me makes me want to cringe. I have a long, sordid history with trying to use behavior charts over the last 20 years of being a mom. In theory, they are a great idea...a far better option than spanking, in my opinion. But if you are not a detail-oriented person, a behavior chart just might make you want to pull your hair out, assuming your children haven't made you pull it out already!

In general, the idea behind a behavior chart is to reward your children for behaving well and doing what they're supposed to do, when they're supposed to do it. I'm a firm believer in emphasizing the positives, but let me assure you - a kid can get points all the way down the chart by doing everything he's supposed to do all day long, yet still drive you insane.

Having experienced exactly this with my oldest, I implemented additional points for doing what was expected with a positive attitude. Extra points were also given (or taken away) for doing things without having to be reminded. Needless to say, this soon grew to be a full-time accounting job!

My children are six years apart in age, so developmentally, they're nowhere near each other as far as what motivates them, what they'd consider a negative consequence, or what they deem "fair".

Yeah, you guessed it - I had to have three different charts - one for each kid. That automatically tripled my behavior chart accounting chores. I swear to you, there were days I thought I got nothing else done but keep track of those charts. And God help me if I missed anything! I'll say one thing - my kids sure were motivated to keep track of me keeping track of their points!

After the PC was commonplace in households, I converted all my paper-based behavior charts to the computer. That was an improvement, for sure. The computer was password protected and I kept all three charts in one Excel spreadsheet, so I could update everyone's chart quickly and easily, and they couldn't tamper with the data.

You might be thinking I had solved my problem, but no - I just moved it from the fridge to the computer. Behavior charts only work if you remember to update them, and once I moved them to the computer, they were easier to update, but easier to forget because they weren't in my face everytime I walked by the fridge.

Between forgetting to update them altogether and the sheer amount of data I had to track, especially if I got behind, it felt like I needed a Master's in Accounting to keep up with all these charts and make sure each kid was being fairly reported.

By this time, spankings began to look like a much less complicated solution for bad behavior. But the 'good mom' in me railed against that idea. I'm a firm believer in "practice what you preach" and how, exactly, was I going to be able to explain the logic of spanking their behinds for hitting each other?

I wasn't, and I knew it. So I continued my search for a better solution than these dang behavior charts.

One day while search online, I came across the answer: The Better Behavior Wheel Parenting Tool.

No more Excel spreadsheets! Woo-hoo! Now the kids had a voice in their consequences (which ALWAYS makes any solution more effective) and it was all done on the computer, so no more papers flying off the fridge everytime we walked by.

Not only does the Better Behavior Wheel handle doling out previously agreed upon consequences for the bad behavior you're looking to eliminate, but it also has something called Wheel of Just Desserts to reward them when you catch them being good!

My sanity restored for less than the price of ordering in pizza!