The "Good Choice Chart"

We're trying to stress to Aiden the importance of making good choices. So I made a little reward board for him. I got the idea from a racetrack that my friend Corri had on her fridge for her boys.

I added a vinyl track to a magnet board
glued magnets on a car

and we were ready for business!It's pretty simple....good choices mean go: move the car forward. A few examples of good choices are listening the first time he's asked to do something, following directions well, etc.

He can also earn a chance to move the car forward by helping out with chores like putting silverware away (which he thinks is a reward in itself, he loves that job) or cleaning up all of his toys by himself when asked. And bad choices mean the car goes backwards and further from the finish line.

When the car makes it around the track to the finish line then Aiden gets a reward. He's starting to get the hang of it and now having to move the car backwards is really hard for him to do. And he is dying to make it to the finish line. Today he yelled "let's take the car all the way!"

For his first reward we're going big....the prize at the end of the track is going to be a trip to Target for a pillow pet. He's dying for one. But after that we'll make the reward a small prize from the target dollar section or an activity that he likes (i.e. a little hike or a trip to the train park.)

I think this is helping him realize even more that there are consequences for bad choices. And it's positive reinforcement that rewards are earned and it's important to make good choices. For a while there he would ask for a toy every time we went to the store. We've got to get away from that mindset so I think this will help him understand that getting a new toy or a super fun experience isn't something that he gets just because he wants it. We're all pretty excited about the board around here these days!