I wish I could say, “Yes, KidPoints will work for sure,” but every child is different. I do believe KidPoints will work well with most children, as long as you find the right balance of expectations and rewards and continue modifying it as needed.
Why It Works Well for Us
Our son is expected to do chores around the house. However, he won’t do those chores on his own. He is past the age of wanting to help Mom and Dad out but hasn’t yet reached the stage of self-discipline to do it on his own or the maturity needed for intrinsic motivation that comes from a clean house. He is in the mode of all play, all the time, so he needs a little help.
KidPoints is a great fit for us because we get to reward him with things we would have given him anyway. Our typical rewards are food (at-home desserts) and screen time, both of which we would be happy to give him for free within limits. KidPoints addresses both sides of this problem by helping motivate him to do things he otherwise wouldn’t do and by placing limits on the rewards he wants. We reward him with things we would have given him anyway for doing things we already expect him to do.
Conversely, if he was expected to do chores without rewards, and was punished otherwise, he would be getting punished a lot. Our son is like that, he is strong willed and resistant to “you must do chores or else…”. He responds better to positive feedback.
Children are all different. For some kids, once they reach homework age, the fear, thought of a bad grade, or personal ambition is enough to motivate them to do their homework all on their own. For others, a grade is just a letter in the alphabet. A self-motivated child won’t need rewards for what they do themselves. They might need it in other areas of life, or not at all. Find what works for your family and children in their stage of life and adapt as needed.
Eventually, our son will grow up and out of these rewards and expectations. Yours will too. They will get to the point where they won’t need KidPoints at all.
What Not to Do
One way to not use KidPoints is to have rewards out of balance with their expectations. With chores or homework, we want our children to do them all on their own. So when that isn’t happening, don’t motivate them with extravagant rewards. Don’t take your kids to the ice cream shop for completing their homework every day. Don’t buy them a new toy for the equivalent of one week of chores. They’ll come to expect more than they’ve earned (entitlement) and you’ll be broke.
Instead, use large rewards to build habits. After all, healthy habits are a large part of what we parents are trying to instill in our children. Reward small for daily homework, and big at the end of the semester for reaching a goal. Us adults do the same thing. A paycheck every two weeks and a vacation every two years.