A friend recently brought Handipoints Chore Charts to my attention, and I'm so glad they did!
Handipoints is an incredibly clever website for parents and kids.
The gist is: You set up a checklist of chores and activities you would like your child to do, they do the chores and check them off on their handipoints page, and the parent then awards the child points that they can use in HandiLand.
I wish I'd had something like this as a child.
The great thing is that control is entirely in the hands of the parents and their children. You can discuss with your child and agree as to what exactly the child will get in return for fulfilling his checklist. If Junior wants a bike, or skis, or archery set, they can work for it.
So smart, and such a good use of the internet.
Well done to the good people over at Handipoints!
Check 'em out: Handipoints.com
I have been using Handipoints with my niece and nephew, whom I babysit, for just a week now. So far, so good. They love the virtual world, and are learning from it as well. There are pop quizzes all over town that allow them to earn bonus points, and I find both the 6 year old and the 9 year old seeking out information so that they can answer correctly. They are also learning that the things they want cost, and that you must sometimes save for those things. A real world habit I notice is "the money is burning a hole in my pocket". The child may want to buy a Webkinz for $10 but they only have $5. Rather than save, they will spend the $5 on stuff they don't really want. In the handipoints world I see them learning that sometimes they will need to keep their points unspent until they have enough for the item they really want. Also, when they do chores, they are graded. If they don't get an A, they don't get the full point value. Doing a 5 point job poorly may only get them 3.4 points, or 1.87 points, or 0 points, and they are finding that if they are going to spend the time on the task, they may as well get full points for it. To do so they have to do the job well. All in all we are all loving this! And all the grownups are involved - me as the nanny, the mom and dad, the grandma and grandpa. Everyone has their own login and can check off and grade tasks. Grandma and Grandpa can have a list that is appropriate for the children when they are guests there. It's just super! My sister once signed up for another similar site, but there were so few things for the kids to do there that they lost interest, and there was a monthly membership fee, and it depended on the parents paying the children when they earned points. This site gives two kinds of points, yellow stars that they save up to get their parents to purchase real world rewards, and purple stars. The purple ones are used to purchase clothes for their character, or items for their character's home, etc. I love my sister and her husband but they aren't always on top of the game when it comes to allowance, etc. This site lets the kids earn and purchase, and not have to wait for the parents to supply the reward. It's just great.
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