Positive Reinforcement Yields Positive Results
The Sticker Plan
My wife and I implemented the sticker plan earlier this year.
The sticker plan, you say? It’s a basic reward system for our three-year-old Jackson. For each day of good behavior at the end of the day before his precious head meets the pillow to gain the rest he needs to proceed full-speed the following day Jackson is able to select a sticker to place in his book. With each bloc of five Jackson is able to choose a special treat.
Last time it was Chuckie Cheese. Next time it’s more local as we head to Pump It Up.
The nice thing about the sticker plan is choices and behaviors have very direct consequences.
For Jackson a negative report (very rare) from Mademoiselle Caroline when we pick him up from Lycee Francaise means no sticker. And this means we are that much farther from going someplace or doing something that is really important to him.
On the Other Hand
Contrast our experience with Jackson and that of the cast of characters at AIG. Even though their firm lost $99 Billion last year, a select cadre of the “best and the brightest” received performance bonuses that tipped the scales at roughly $165 Million. Given the catastrophic results of their work with respect to AIG and the US and global economy, that they would receive bonuses flies in the face of reason.
One bit of good news I spotted on the BBC website today, the treasury department is withholding from AIG in the next multi-billion dollar portion of bailout funds an amount equal to the bonuses. But this doesn’t mitigate that those rewarded still have bank accounts bolstered by ill-gained bonuses.
Nor does it mitigate the confused message this whole debacle sends to kids older than Jackson and Lucas about what it means to be a productive member of society. What it means to earn something instead of being entitled to it.
As for us, we will continue lavishing love and praise upon our kids and having the nightly sticker ritual. At the end of the day the hoped for result is that your boys will be honorable and trustworthy young men.
Speaking of Honorable and Trustworthy…
Yours truly recently was enlisted by four listing clients who entrusted the sale of their homes to Thomas McCarey and The Real Estate Lounge Chicago team. The recently listed properties include:
A downtown Chicago one bedroom condo with city views at 200 N Jefferson ($275k)
A Roscoe Village deluxe 2/2 condo with an attached garage space in an elevator building at 2801 N Oakley ($399,900)
An extra wide luxury 3/2 Lakeview condo at 3118 N Sheffield ($624,900)
A Lincoln Square single family home with optimal finishes at 2454 W Berteau ($1,299,900)
As always, arranging a private showing for any of these homes is as easy as making a phone call to 773.848.9241. The same number can commence the conversation about what it is that I have in my tool kit to best market your home in today’s Chicago real estate market.
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