Hundreds of books, classes and videos are dedicated to the tricky topic of disciplining your child. Every morning I hear a commercial on the radio about a system that promises to “turn your child’s behavior around.” Unfortunately, what works with one kid may be totally ignored by another. When we got information about the Star Stash system by Portable Parenting, I’ll admit I had my doubts. Since discipline is such an important (and often controversial) topic among parents, though, I thought it would be worth trying out.
The system includes two bags, one for the parent or caregiver and one for the child, and one and ten point tokens. Mom or Dad then hand out the tokens at their discretion whenever their child does something worth rewarding. Our testing mom tried out the Star Stash with her 6-year-old son and said she was very impressed by how well he responded to it. “For the most part, we eliminated the need for time outs,” she said. “I was able to instead reverse a negative behavior into a positive one by suggesting something positive he could do to earn some points.” Although they didn’t really use the Star Stash outside the home, our testing mom said the fact that her son could carry around his tokens wherever he went was a good reminder to keep up good behavior. Although you can assign any point/reward system for the tokens, our mom gave each token a value of 10 cents which her son was then able to redeem for some new LEGOs.
Obviously the Star Stash worked well for this mom and son team. Even if this particular system doesn’t work with your child, though, the idea of reinforcing positive behavior instead of just focusing on negative behavior is worthwhile.
Star Stash, The Portable Rewards System, retails for $9.99. For more information visit www.portableparenting.com.