When a child reaches a certain age, generally around four or so, they become able to understand that they sometimes have to wait before being rewarded for their efforts. The Les Belles Combines General Store is the perfect tool to help your child learn this kind of lesson, since they'll have to learn to work but only receive a reward for their efforts once a week. This skill will be useful to them all their life, in their personal life as well as at school, where they'll only receive their diploma at the end of their studies, or at work, where they'll only be paid every two weeks.
If you're having trouble finding reasons to give kids tokens and so reward the effort they've made, here are a few:
Household chores
Of course, it's important to teach kids that everyone pitching in within the family's organization is essential to making daily life run smoothly, and that not every task completed deserves a reward. However, to motivate your little ones and your big ones to do household chores with a positive attitude and on their own, don't hesitate to give them a few tokens for certain chores, especially the ones that take more effort.
Good behaviour
If your child has trouble playing harmoniously with others or has the bad habit of settling conflicts aggressively, you can offer them tokens every time they manage to make the effort needed to adopt the expected behaviours over a given period of time. What's more, the more your child is rewarded for their good deeds, the more likely they'll be to repeat the behaviours you want!
Acts of independence
Does your child surprise you by doing their entire morning routine on their own, or by taking the initiative to set the table without being asked? Seize this perfect opportunity to give them tokens that will concretely reward their growing independence!
As you've gathered, any occasion where your child has to put in effort is a good reason to give them tokens to use in the General Store. Not only will this boost their motivation to do their chores, adopt the expected behaviours and develop their independence, but the wait needed to earn their reward will let them learn, little by little, to delay gratification!
Discover all the Les Belles Combines tools to use alongside the General Store:
Les Belles Combines tools for encouraging good behaviour
Les Belles Combines tools for getting everyone to pitch in with chores
Les Belles Combines tools for developing independence
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