Grandpa bucks

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my trip to visit two of my young grandsons. I had planned to stay one week, but we had such a wonderful time together, I stayed an extra week. As you may recall, I wrote about my plan to give the boys “Grandpa bucks” as a positive reinforcement. Well, I did it, and I’m telling you, it worked really well! Talk about motivating children!

I had originally come up with the idea when my children were young. When we would go to our extended family reunions and camp outs, we wanted a way to encourage all of the kids to pitch in, help out, eat up, and chow down. (A bit of child psychology.) So I printed lots of small play money before the reunions. They had a picture of my dad on it, and wrote “One Packer Buck”. Each day, all of the adults would hand out a Packer buck to any young’un that they wanted to reward for good behavior of any kind. Then every afternoon around snack time, we’d open up the “Packer Store”. We cover a table with all kinds of healthy snacks. (Well, maybe there were a few mini-sized candy bars and licorice.) We’d also have some inexpensive stuff from the dollar store: toys, crafts, etc. The kids all enjoyed earning and spending Packer Bucks.

Do you know why grandchildren are always so full of energy? They suck it out of their grandparents. ~Gene Perret

So during my recent visit, I thought of how hyper and cranky 3 and 6 year old boys can get sometimes. I know yelling at them doesn’t work. Besides, Grammy Tanda taught me by her example that a grandparent’s job is to give love, hugs, and positive encouragement; to be a cheerleader and a talent scout.

I remembered how successful the Packer bucks were. So the first thing my daughter and I did was stop by the dollar store and pick up some play money and toys. We also got some snacks. Then when we got to their house, I borrowed a “treasure chest” to stash the loot. Then everyday I would be on the lookout for reasons to reward them with Grandpa Bucks. The kids loved it!

I think this is a fun way to encourage grandchildren, and I highly recommend it. Try it! Here are a few suggestions for you. First, explain to the kids how the program works. Also let them know about some of the “surprises” you have in your “cache of goodies”. Each time you open up your “store”, first ask them to count how many grandpa/grandma bucks they have. This will give you an idea of how much to reward them. Then show them the stuff you have available. You can charge any amount you want per item, depending on how well they did and how cool the item is they want. If they want too much (and they probably will the first time), tell them they can earn some more bucks for tomorrow. Most of all, just have fun!

Reasons to give a buck:

• when kids need positive encouragement
• good behavior of any kind
• when they “choose the right”
• positive reinforcement
• putting away their toys
• picking up their clothes off the floor
• putting dirty clothes in the hamper
• doing something right without being asked
• eating their veggies
• not hitting or calling names when they get upset

Stuff to stock your store with:

• arts supplies
• crafts
• stuff for a hobby of theirs
• items to add to a collection they have
• toys
• cool flashlights that blink colors
• coloring books
• crayons or non-permanent markers
• regular pencils and colored pencils
• watercolors
• games
• healthy snacks
• fruit
• sugar free gum
• ingredients for s’mores
• junk food (just kidding)
• sports: soft baseballs and footballs

What do you think? Any other ideas come to mind that you could use as a reason to reward your grandchildren? What stuff would you stock your store with?

Have fun! Shayne

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