Organizing Your Children’s Rewards & Acknowledgments

Children love to be rewarded for their achievements - not just with a new toy or possession of some kind but also with a big warm hug to make them feel good. Unfortunately the reality is that many more efforts go unnoticed than noticed. Children like to know that we notice them doing the ‘right’ thing, because it’s more than obvious we detect them doing the wrong thing. As we probably well remember, kids hear way more about when they have done the ‘wrong’ thing, so keep this in mind to maintain a healthy balance.

Make a Fuss: Having your child arrive home with an award is worthy of a bit of a fuss. Ask them to share with you how it came about, how did they feel when they did what they were awarded for? Really listen to them as they will appreciate it and feel additionally valued and respected by you.

Keep a Record of certificates and awards your child receives to show them you acknowledge their achievements. Keep them in a special folder along with all their school photos and special works. There are many ways you can keep all the awards and other significant paraphernalia like, special pieces of writing, medals and ribbons. A simple folder for each child with heaps of plastic pockets to store their special keepsakes of this nature; is one simple yet economical way. Having a separate divider for each school year, along with a photo of them is a lovely way to store them for future reference. When the kids are younger, it is nice to let them assist you with the short-listed items and decorate the folder together.

Your child can monitor their own personal improvement on a chart to fill in with training and game information over a sport season including their lap times and ball possessions, goals etc. This can help them hone in on certain skills & monitor their own improvement, which may result in a coaches’ award that may not have otherwise occurred.

Photographic Reminder: Take a photo of your child with their award; stick it up somewhere in pride of place, then after a period, put it into the special book or folder. This can be a great pick me up and something children can share with grandparents to ensure that they don’t miss anything special. In the future, items in the folder may assist as a valuable resource for creating a resume.

Sensitive Souls: This is something to be conscious of as some children will be really sad for not being acknowledged as much as they would like. So make sure you acknowledge and record their good qualities as part of this record. Your child may not get the best math score but rather is rewarded as the willing worker, caring friend etc. There is much more to sport than defining it by a win. This is where we as parents foster their self worth and help them to feel good about themselves and inwardly acknowledge children’s efforts, ability and personal skills. This takes time and patience, along with you catching them being good etc. Don’t just rely on outside materialistic rewards.

Rewards for good and or improved behaviour can work really well by making the simple things mean something – eg choosing the play park to go to or the Saturday night family movie.

Family rewards: For a great week of teamwork by all members can result in an extra fun family activity, eg family tennis game, family bike ride and sausage sizzle. Keep in mind the very real issue of children is not only not getting enough ‘quantity’ time because both parents work, but they also often lack decent “quality time” as well. As a parent, the reasons for this may seem valid, including being absolutely exhausted from everything you contend with on a daily basis but think of it this way, your children need your guidance and support, so make time for them before it’s too late.