Gaming time as a reward is a great idea, especially if it’s allowed to accumulate. But what if they have a lot of time and are just adding on to it? There are always other options for rewards. I’m going to tell you about some of my favorite rewards that my kids absolutely love.
Microsoft Points
One thing my daughter loves is dressing and redressing her avatar. Of course, shopping the avatar store she loves even more. It gives her a freedom to choose whatever she wants. Of course, this come at a price. If she completes her chores for the week, she gets $5 worth of rewards points to spend on the Xbox. This allows her not only to shop for her avatar, but to get games (pending parent approval of course).
Since the Microsoft points are about to be phased out, I’m having to decide whether to keep this reward or change to a different system. Since they are moving to a cash system, I am more than likely to keep it at $5 dollars a week, but this time, just straight out cash.
New Games
Another reward I like to do is to give her a choice between the points for that week, or to save that $5 towards a new game. If she chooses to save it, I add it to an Excel spreadsheet that I use to keep track of her rewards she receives for jobs well done. When she reaches a set goal of $60, we make the great journey to the nearest gaming store and let her shop for a new game. She loves this trip especially.
Rewards are great motivators for kids. Sure I could just flood them with cash, but they don’t learn much from having cash other than they want to spend it on junk that just clutters up my house. So gaming rewards not only helps keep them occupied and learning, but also keeps my house nice and clean. It is a total win-win situation!
