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Keeping your New Year’s resolutions is tough, so tough in fact that many of us make the same ones year after year. Perhaps we’re going about it the wrong way. Maybe if we used positive reinforcement to encourage good habits we would be much more successful in keeping our resolutions.
Good news, tech can help. You can use iRewardChart for your kids and yourself to encourage positive behavior with custom rewards!
iRewardChart is an app that’s like a classic star chart but with advanced features to help make the experience of earning a star even more rewarding. I first reviewed this amazing app nearly two years ago in one of my first articles, “The Best App Ever!” Since that time, the app has been updated with improvements to make it even easier to use and has become available for nearly all mobile devices. Last month, iRewardChart launched its iPad app.
Using iRewardChart with Kids
Pleading and punishments rarely work to encourage good behavior in kids. If your resolutions include trying to:
- nag less,
- get your kids to do their chores,
- get your kids to do their chores voluntarily, and
- get your kids to do their chores with smiles on their faces,
then you’ll be pleased to know that iRewardChart will help with all of the above. Whether you’re a big believer in positive reinforcement or want to at least give it a try, iRewardChart can help you use rewards instead of punishments to get what you want.
What makes this app especially useful is the ability to customize it for each of your children. Earning stars is only meaningful for your child if the benefits of the stars are worth the effort needed to achieve a star. iRewardChart allows you to personalize the app for each child, you can add your child’s photo as well as select tasks and rewards for each child.
iRewardChart comes pre-loaded with suggested tasks and rewards, but you can easily add others. Discuss with your kids what rewards they want to earn. You can have customized rewards for each child so the goals are meaningful and age-appropriate. I suggest having at least some short-term rewards. If the rewards all take months to achieve, your children might lose interest quickly.
Here’s a Wonder of Tech video demonstrating iRewardChart working its magic:
iRewardChart – It’s Not Just for Children
Why should kids be the only ones who get to earn stars? Use iRewardChart to keep yourself on track for your New Year’s resolutions. If your goal is to exercise four times a week, give yourself a star each time you work out. Set rewards for yourself for each workout session, each week, each month or for the year. Just don’t make a cupcake your reward for working out!
Need motivation to clean out your closet? If the joy of a clutter-free closet isn’t enough, give yourself a star. Or two. Or three. Whatever it takes to get yourself enthusiastic about tackling the task at hand.
Have fun coming up with rewards for yourself. If you have difficulty carving out time for activities you enjoy, you may feel less guilty if you earn your “me time.” Use your stars to relax in a soothing bath or read a book you’ve been meaning to start.
Availability
iRewardChart comes in a free Lite version you can use for one child with up to four tasks per week. You can also buy the full version of the app that allows for unlimited children and tasks for $3.99.
iRewardChart is available for:
- iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch in the iTunes App Store in full and Lite versions
- iPad in the iTunes App Store in full and Lite versions
- Android devices at Google Play in full and Lite versions
- Android devices and Kindle Fire at the Amazon Appstore in full and Lite versions
- Windows Phone at the Windows Phone store
- Nook at Barnes & Noble
Bottom Line
Whether you’re looking for a way to motivate your kids to help or for a way to motivate yourself, check out iRewardChart. Use the power of positive reinforcement to reward good behavior to create a happier household.
Have you tried using positive reinforcement such as iRewardChart on yourself or your kids? What rewards motivate your kids? What rewards motivate you? Share your thoughts with us in the Comments section below!
*Wag More Bark Less image by Ann Homyak
**Cupcake image by Clever Cupcakes (edited)
Loved the video! Stars to the director, producer, and actresses!
Thanks, Gramps. So glad you enjoyed the video. I’m thinking there should be an iRewardChart game show on TV with the contestant with the most stars winning a big prize, such as a free iRewardChart app or a million dollars. :-bd
Oscars are coming in Feb. This one is nominated in the Best Appy video category 🙂
Lol, I better start making room on my mantel! 😉
I just downloaded the app. Seemed too awesome to miss out on!
Hi Amberr, I’m so glad you got this app. You won’t be disappointed, whether you use it on yourself or your kids. You will be impressed with how your kids actually want to do their chores!
Happy New Year, Amberr. I hope 2013 brings you many, many blessings. 🙂
Look forward to hear from you Amberr. Feel free to ask me any questions.
Hi Carolyn,
I think this is good, stars worked well when I was at school, we had silver stars and gold stars. You got the latter if you worked a miracle. I wouldn’t need this with children. I have a way with them. I can be quite assertive. I was at someone’s house once and I told the dog to sit and when I looked around all the children had too! 🙂
I’m having quite a good 2013. The stock market is being nice to me. I got a deal on my gas and electricity and I’m £500 up because of the last deal. I just complained about being overcharged 60p in the supermarket and they gave me 1.50! It’s even stopped raining…
Hi Mike, I bet you got a lot of gold stars in school! (*)
Your 2013 is certainly off to a great start, Mike. I hope it continues like this for you all year long.
Thank you so much Carolyn for a wonderful post! And a Happy New Year to all your readers.
Hi iRewardChart, Thank you for developing such a great app that changes family dynamics in such a positive way. Happy New Year to you too!
Looks like a “must-have” app for my kid…it takes a mountain of patience to wait for her to complete any task….but with this maybe i can get her going quicker 🙂
Thanks for a wonderful share Carolyn.
Hi Praveen, You’re right, iRewardChart is probably a great solution for your daughter. The stars can be a great motivation for kids and teach them how to earn rewards for work well done.
Carolyn,
Its looks really very interesting and cool. These days kids get easily bored with toys and they love tech geeks. Indeed I am little negative for high volume usage of tech geek stuffs at kids. But surely we can offer right apps and choices like this.
Let me surely have a try and believe my Daughter would love it. Thanks for sharing the information.
Hi Manickam, I’m so glad you’re trying this with your daughter. Make sure to have her help you decide on the tasks and the rewards. Have her choose her picture too. When children are a part of setting up the app, they get especially excited over earning stars and rewards! The first time she redeems her stars for rewards, she will have learned a very valuable lesson on the benefits of work! :-bd
Aloha,
Since I don’t have any kids yet (that I know of), this seems perfect for my girlfriend. Maybe I can get her to stop arguing, complaining, and being a baby at times, if I reward her…lol
Do you use Apple Maps or Google Maps, have you seen an improvement in Apple Maps accuracy lately?
Hi Justin, My goodness! Your girlfriend sounds like a handful! If she needs stars to stop that behavior, well…
I don’t use Apple Maps so I can’t say whether their accuracy has improved for me. Google Maps isn’t 100% accurate either but it has been better for me than Apple Maps.
Hi Carolyn,
Nice and wise words at the start of your post dear 🙂 I like that thought of yours. I have no doubt, that rewards are always motivate people. Just wanna know what kind of rewards 🙂
Very glad to see you on a video Carolyn 🙂 Very nice and charming there. Nice one to show how it work out with kids and it’s yet very simple 🙂
I remember I’ve come across your earlier post about iRewardChart when I explore your blog 🙂 Now it seems enriched with more features and I’ve got lite version on my mobile now. Gotta check out myself though I’m not always be with my mobile but PC though 🙂 I’m hoping to be with this app.
Cheers…
Hi Mayura, Thanks for your kind words. Yes, I have covered iRewardChart before. I’m glad you found that article so you could discover the Best App Ever before this article. Between the updates to the app, the iPad version and using the app for myself, I believed there was plenty of new information for this new article.
Yes, the carrot versus stick debate can rage on, especially with ourselves and our kids, but even if you believe in the stick, why not try the carrot for a while and see if positive rewards are a good motivator for you and your kids?
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your enlightening thoughts with us at The Wonder of Tech, Mayura! I hope you’re able to achieve your goals and reap your rewards, Mayura! (*)
Awesome video Carolyn, that bedroom was messy, that’s for sure 🙂
You’re absolutely right, iRewardChart is probably the best app ever. I have just received the iPad version of it and I am going to start using it soon. I had a period where I used the iPhone version and everything worked great, my kids were talking about it all the time, but then, the month before our baby was born, and now about five months later, we haven’t been using it. I know it works great for the kids.
I haven’t thought much about using it myself, but I probably should do it. I have several new habits I am going to be doing this year, and I am going to start jogging as well (maybe I’ll even run a marathon later this year), and iRewardChart might be exactly what I’ll need to do what I want to accomplish. You certainly got me thinking 🙂
Hi Jens, Yes, my daughter was delighted to hear the words, “No, you’re room isn’t messy enough!” 😉
We have gotten off track with iRewardChart on occasion, but every time we get back on track. Either my kids will ask to get back on it or I will suggest it and they will be delighted to start again.
I could see iRewardChart being a good fit for you with your business too, Jens. You could reward yourself with a new software program with each new business achievement. What a great idea to use iRewardChart as a tool to help you train for the marathon! Keep us posted, Jens! :-bd
Hi Carolyn
Happy New Year!
iRewardChart is a fantastic idea.
I had the free version on my iPhone and considered buying the premium version. The only thing that stopped me were the issues I read about on iTunes about syncing between devices. I also didn’t really want to pay an additional fee on top of the app purchase to be able to do the sync if there were issues.
I opted for You Rule instead which is very similar and you can assign different characters to your kids which can level up with new superpowers. My son loves to see how close he is to the finish line each week in completing his chores.
Hi Tim, You’re right, iRewardChart is a great idea and is well-executed as well. iRewardChart introduced syncing a while ago but I never used it because I pretty much always have my devices with me so I don’t need to sync. I’ve never tried You Rule, but I’m glad it works well with your son. Positive reinforcement can work wonders! 🙂
Hey Carolyn, Thanks for the latest updates on iRewardChart. I was using it for awhile but admittedly, stopped. Maybe I’ll have to give it another go. Wasn’t anything to do with the app – I really liked it! It was more me. And sinceI have noticed lately that my boys aren’t completing their expected tasks as promptly as they used to, I do think it’s time to get back on board with iRewardChart.
Hi Carol, Yes, I can understand how you let it slide but you’re right, when your kids are engaged with iRewardChart, the results are amazing. Chores get done without reminders and kids are happy about doing them. How cool is that?
I think it’s good to revisit iRewardChart every so often to adjust the tasks and the rewards to make sure they’re age-appropriate.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, Carol.
That’s an interesting application. It looks like it may help me to start rewarding my kids in a more organised manner. Since I am a fan of applications I will surely give it a try and come back with some feedback. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Churchill, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Yes, this app can be a great motivator for our kids and ourselves. Isn’t it great to be able to motivate your kids so they want to do chores themselves without our nagging?
Perhaps you could also use iRewardChart for yourself to reinforce your new running habit? You deserve stars too, Churchill! :-bd
I know I deserve stars for trying. 🙂 My kids are impressed with iRewardChart. They helped me to set it up, create all the rewards and even came up with some interesting chores. It’s only been two days, but I can already see some changes. Just watching how motivated they are is a pleasure to this happy Dad. 🙂 Thank you.
Yes, Churchill, you definitely do deserve stars! I’m so glad, though not surprised, that your kids are loving iRewardChart! The change can be immediate as they suddenly view household chores with excitement instead of dread!
Thanks so much for coming back and letting us know, Churchill! 🙂
iRewardChart is the best ever app I came across for Kindle fire user. I like that you can add more than one star for a task. We are using the chart to keep my son practicing academic skills during the summer. If he works on a skill, like math or spelling, for 15 min he gets one star, half hour- 2stars, 45min-3 stars and 1 hour-4 stars. I also like that we can make our own rewards for the values we choose. It rocks with my Kindle fire table. You must use to enhance your skills. Nice article, Carolyn!
Hello Jack, Excellent point. I also like how you can assign more than one star to a task. Not only is that more fair for the children, it teaches them the value of working harder to get a bigger reward.
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences with us!
Carolyn,
I actually had one of those “duh” moments! The other day you made a tweet about one of the posts I had just wrote, Blogging -Basic You Must Write (I am getting that groove back) and I had the nicest comment from them. They were highly complimentary towards you (which of course didn’t surprise me in the least) but I couldn’t place where I knew them from (my duh moment).
The comment was made by @irewardchart. It didn’t dawn on me at the time where I knew them from. I knew them because I have their program!! Now…how did I connect the dots….I was trolling your older posts (still playing catch up with my life) and saw that you had wrote about them. Boy…do I feel silly now! It was one of those moments that just didn’t dawn on this dad (until now)!
I love their program!! As I recall, it was over the summer that I was looking for something to work towards goals for my son. I came across their lite version and gave it a whirl. I enjoyed the way you can make goals and reward them. It’s simple to use and there is a reward at the end of the task (so you are always working towards something). I have since purchased the program for my android and have considered it for my I-Pad. It is a program that I would highly recommend to a parent or for yourself (cleaning my tool bench is as bad as cleaning any closet).
Aaron
Hi Aaron, Yes, I’m so glad you are getting back to blogging. You have definitely been missed.
iRewardChart is a fantastic app from a wonderful developer. They have been extremely supportive of The Wonder of Tech ever since I first wrote about them almost two years ago. Since that time they have continued to improve their app which makes it even more valuable for kids, parents and pretty much anyone who wants to achieve a goal.
Although it’s designed as a parenting app, I have used it as well to keep myself motivated and working towards goals.
I’m glad that the app has worked well for you and your son, Aaron!