How to Devise a Behavior Goal Chart With a Child

Identify the Problems

• 1

  Determine the specific disagreeable behaviors your child displays that need to be changed. Perhaps your child is acting out when it is time to get ready for bed, or maybe he is struggling with following through when asked to clean up his toys. Your child may be having trouble finishing homework on time or remembering to complete his weekly household chores.

• 2

  Discuss the problem behaviors with your child and all other family members. All family members should be aware of the new behavior modification plan you are implementing for your child. Even young children can understand that a certain repetitive negative behavior requires correction.

• 3

  Set clear expectations for your child's behavior. Adhere to firm and consistent boundaries so your child can learn appropriate behaviors more readily. Bending the rules from one situation to the next will only confuse your child, prolonging disagreeable behavior.

Create a Chart

• 4

  Determine which type of chart will work best for the specific behavior you are wanting to improve in your child. For example, your child may need one chart specifically for following through when asked to clean up her toys and a second chart particular to her bedtime routine. An older child may need one chart for her school homework and a separate chart for household duties.

• 5

  Explore online and look at various styles of behavior goal charts for children. If you find a template that will work for you and your child, print it out. Create your own chart using craft supplies like construction paper, markers and crayons. Designate an area where your child can mark his progress using either stickers, check marks or any other adhesive object you want to use. Use adhesive Velcro to stick onto the backs of small, handmade paper objects that represent when a child makes a positive choice or completes a task.

• 6

  Choose a location in your home to hang the behavior goal chart. Hang the chart in a place where your child can see it readily and participate in adding progress markers. Supervise younger children to ensure proper additions of progress markers.

Using the Chart

• 7

  Recognize every time your child chooses to behave in a positive way that pertains specifically to his behavior goal chart. Offer words of encouragement and walk with your child to the chart so he can add another progress marker to his chart. Determine beforehand how many progress markers your child must accumulate before reaching his goal.

• 8

  Establish what your child's reward will be once he has reached his goal for number of progress markers on his chart. An appropriate number of progress markers for a younger child would be six to eight. Expect older children to accumulate a larger number of progress markers, or perhaps track progress over the duration of a week and administer a reward if the entire week has gone well. Rewards can be some type of outing, like a trip to the zoo or movie theater, or a small treat of some kind, like baking cookies or a small toy.

• 9

  Develop appropriate and consistent consequences with your child for times when his behavior continues to reflect poor choices. Parenting expert Colleen Langenfeld emphasizes the importance of continuing to implement negative consequences for disagreeable behaviors in conjunction with the use of a behavior goal chart. Langenfeld also points out that success with behavior modification through use of a behavior chart can take time, and parents do well when remaining patient and giving the change time to become fully realized.