Teaching Responsibility & Independence

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This Sunday we will continue to look at the life skill of RESPONSIBILITY! As parents we have the responsibility for teaching our children our family values, developing their self-discipline, and helping them to understand that life is a series of rewards and consequences of their choosing.

We'd like to introduce you to a program developed to address those specific parenting goals and more. Champ Ladder is a personalized and powerful reward system that provides the tools for turning family chaos into order.

As they explain on their website,
"Children move up and down the Champ Ladder according to their behavior, and in so doing choose their own consequences. Champ Ladder™ becomes an unbelievable simple way for everyone to know at a glance what privileges they are entitled to.Through the feedback of hundreds of families and years of experience Champ Ladder™ has worked out the kinks to provide you with a simple yet powerful system that taps into the competitive nature of siblings to propel them to the top allows your children to "self-discipline" and see a direct relationship between their behavior and the privileges they are entitled to promotes a environment where discipline is consistent and fair..."

The Champ Ladder system comes with a complete Companion Guide. The guide is full of helpful suggestions for establishing and implementing the ladder. The guide also suggests defining a list of your own family principles to teach your children during nightly or weekly family meetings. Our family has put together a list of our own Family Principles that are now displayed in our kitchen. We use specific statements from the principle list anytime we are correcting or guiding our children's behavior. We also spend time each week focusing on 1 or 2 of these principles and what they mean in our daily life.

On the same board we have displayed for the kids exactly what their expectations are for being able to move up the ladder. In addition we have a score card that lays out exactly what the consequences will be for negative behavior, ex. Lying - move down 1 step.

It is working! Even for our young children. The other day in the car Gavin was arguing under his breath with his sister. I asked him if he was arguing. I heard him mutter to himself, "Hmmm...arguing is down 1 on my ladder and lying is down 2." He then answered, "Mom, I was arguing and I'm sorry. I will move down 1 when we get home." End of argument.


The rewards and consequences on our ladder include things such as: chores, books, puzzles, board games, computer time, t.v. time, extra 1/2 hour before bed, riding bikes, playing Legos, and more. Each of these privileges are attached to a different step on the ladder.



What I love about Champ Ladder is that it is adaptable for children of all ages. This same system will be effective for our children when they are teens, as long as we adjust the consequences and rewards to be age appropriate.

We have also found a way to tie the kid's weekly allowance into this system. They receive a quarter for each number they have on the chart during Friday's Family Fun night. Ex. If Anne Hope is on level 8 she gets 8 quarters ($2.00). When they are older I think it would be appropriate to give them $1 per level.

I have been working on establishing solid family traditions for our family that correspond to each month of the year, and the life skills we are working on at the time. I love that the Champ Ladder fits in perfectly with the plans we already had in place. In fact, the Companion Guide even suggests monthly family projects, tied to the family principles, that easily tie into the things we are already trying to do as a family.

Are you ready to check it out? Does this sounds like a solutions for your family? It sure has been exciting for us so far. Using the easy form on the Champ Ladder website, you can personalize your family's ladder based on the rewards and consequences of your choosing.

The website also has a lot more detailed information about the program if you'd like to take a closer look.

Here's some fun news for you...
Champ Ladder would like to give away personalized champ charts to 2 of our readers!!
To enter to WIN, please leave a comment telling us one of the benefits you see in the Champ Ladder. Use their site as a reference for ideas!

Additional Entries:
Tell us one of the privileges that you might include on your child's Champ Ladder.
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This giveaway is open to everyone and we will be accepting entries until October 13th!

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