Rewards for Kids!: Ready-To-Use Charts & Activities for Positive Parenting

by Virginia M. Shiller, Meg Schneider, Bonnie Matthews, et al.

Learning Magazine's Teacher's Choice Award for the Family
iParenting Media Award
Foreword Magazine Book of the Year (Bronze)
Independent Publishers Book of the Year Award (finalist)

"A cleareyed and informative look at the trials of parenting, this readable book presents one solution customized for a bevy of situations, providing a template to tackle practically every challenge through this new lens." --Kirkus Reviews...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591470064
• ISBN13: 9781591470069
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
• Length: 131 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.5" x 11.0"

Customer Reviews

Parents & Teachers - This is a must!!!

This wonderful book shows parents and teachers alike how to develop reward plans for different situations, what works, what doesn't work, and the book even includes pullouts and printables. I am buying a copy for my children's teachers because we feel this book is good for both the kids and the teachers.

reveiw

As a clinical psychologist and parent of a 6 year old son, I would recommend this book highly to fellow parents, or professionals. It helped me get a fresh perspective on some common behavior problems (like getting kids dressed & out in the morning!) and provided many creative, fun, and positive solutions. It's quite liberating to turn occasions for nagging into games that foster independence and achievement. The book provides many specific ideas, charts and coupons that can be copied and used. I even gave my son's first grade teacher a copy of the book as a gift. She used several of the ideas with great success!

review

As a practicing clinical psychologist and parent of a 6 year old son, I would recommend this book highly. Even with previous training in the field, the book helped me gain a fresh, creative, and positive perspective on common everyday behavior problems. I even gave a copy to my son's teacher, who implemented several of the ideas with great success. It was a really great gift. The ideas in the book are specific (charts and reward coupons included!!), effective and fun.

Helping Parents: A Psychologist's View

(...) Dr. Virginia Shiller has addressed the dilemna of adapting effective behavioral techniques to the "wonderful idiosyncratic nature of human beings and the ways that they interact with their environments." Her method is to teach parents how to enter into dialogues with their children so that the Reward Plans they develop are customized to their own families and so that both kids and parents are motivated to give them a try. Instead of simply giving the adults rules to follow, she provides explanations of the underlying principles so that the parents themselves can learn how to address common behavioral problems in a caring and creative manner. Specific examples are given of such common battlegrounds as struggles over bedtimes, picking on siblings, and homework. She describes how to use humor and creativity in order to enlist the cooperation of the children, so that they can become able to experience the rewards of self-control. I liked the emphasis on empowering rather than controlling. In addition, there are lots of cute charts, games, and tokens that are fun to use with kids. I especially liked Dr. Shiller's discussion of the differences between bribes and rewards. I have already used that in talking with parents. (Though this book is written so that it can be used by the average parent, there is something in it for experienced clnicians, too.) While Dr. Shiller explains the principles in a manner which could instruct a psychology student, she also includes a level of subtlety which is interestting to people who have been doing this for a while. This is a useful and excellent book.

A Lifesaver for a Frustrated Parent

This book came out a just the right moment for me. I had been having terrible difficulty with my older daughter Maya's bedtime, which was making my life miserable. I heard about this book and how it can help frustrated parents like myself and decided to give it a try. The book is very nicely presented and easy to read, and above all else, extremely practical. The author gives examples of typical problems faced by parents and offers sample "plans" for how to deal with them. For really busy people like myself there are pullout charts and other materials that are ready-to-use. I found one example that was very similar to my situation and used the information provided to develop a plan to get my daughter into bed at a reasonable hour. I couldn't believe how well it worked! I've already picked out the next behavior problem we're going to work on. I highly recommend this book to parents who are looking for a positive, common-sense approach to dealing with their kids' difficult behaviors.