Smiles & Frowns: Rewards Chart

My kids love earning smiles and it’s a great way to review the day and talk about the choices the kids made especially when they get frowns! I also love that I can add a comment about what was happening at the time to remind me to revisit and discuss the behavior later. It’s great for setting goals for the next day and talking about specific areas they can improve. It gets them to be more responsible for their behavior as well as reflect on their choices. The only thing this app is missing is I would love a sound effect to go with the smiles to get the kids even more excited so it’s like a mini celebration when they do good. We have one of those expensive good timers and this is so much more convenient on the go and gives much better feedback on their behavior !

Our kids are intense and have some extra needs and any sort of scolding backfires big time, especially for our middle guy. This app has helped us be positive and look for positive behaviors and reward the things we like to see. The kids like how they can get different kinds of rewards and they feel good about themselves because we are mentioning positive things more than negative. It has helped us improve the family dynamic. Customer support was helpful for me for a little glitch I encountered. It’s obvious that the company is run by folks who believe in their product and hope it will benefit humans out there :) It has definitely helped us! For us an app is easier than a sticker chart or marble jar or something. When I don’t want to bring out the phone I jot the smiles down on scrap paper and add them later. But if I lose track of a few the kids don’t realize (don’t tell them!) and we still get the emotional benefit. I catch most of them though :)

My 4th grade students like the visual and their parents appreciate it too! They like to compete against themselves to have more smiles than frowns. They haven’t even earned a reward yet, but that’s not even what’s motivating them. They are motivated to have more smiles than frowns to make me and their parents proud. Note: I only use this with 4 of my students who need extra motivation to make better choices. I plan to start using it with my 5 year old daughter.