The Parenting chip system is an alternative positive parenting choice for families.

First and foremost I am a wife and I am a mother. I have been married for 11 years and my children are aged between 9 and 13. My Husband works a drive-in drive-out roster and has done for many years now. We started to find that the kids had to learn different sets of routines, rules and punishments when Dad was home or when he was away. This system started as a way that we could balance out an accurate representation of their behaviours on a weekly basis. We could start to keep a track on what our kids are up to so they didn't play us against each other. We could tell Dad on the phone when he had to stay at work so that he would stay in the loop. This also meant that the kids wouldn't be put in the corner by Mum and sent to their room by Dad' they had the same punishment every time.

I was never given any pocket money when I was growing up but my husband earned money each week for doing menial chores around the house for his Mum. We both didn't like the Idea of giving the kids money for doing things that they should be doing to help around the house anyway. So we knew that we had to find an alternative. I read many parenting books and searched many blogs and face book pages finding a wide range of interesting parenting strategies. Slowly we started to developed what we now call the parenting chips system and a friend suggested that I share the idea with the world. 

The parenting chip system is different for every family but there are a few basics that are the same. I will give you a summary but will go into more details below. Each child has 50 chips at the start of the week, every time that they misbehave they lose a chip (or sometimes more than one) which they cannot get back. When they do the opposite or do something nice without being told they earn blue chips, this is the equivalent of a pat on the back. If they do something that gives you a proud parent moment you can give them a white chip. It doesn't matter if the kids are home or away we can chip them for something and then talk about it later. When the kids go to other family members houses they also know to chip our kids so we can talk to them about it later. 

At the end of the week, as a family we sit together and count the chips that we have left in the chips box for each child. The chips that are left gets converted into money values. The value of the chips have been preset for each child. This money either gets put in the bank, or the child gets money in their hand. Sometimes a bit of both (I have always told them that half should be going into the bank for future spendings).  

What you choose to chip your kids for or reward for varies greatly depending on what you consider normal behaviour for your child. As an example; If your child repeatedly leaves their towel on the floor then you could chip the child once for the first time, two for the second and so on until they start consistently putting the towel where it is meant to be placed. Then you could reward them after a while as a thanks. 

Every household is different and we have different expectations from our children than you would have with yours which is a good thing. This is something that helped us find a balance in our parenting and I hope that it helps you. Feel free to share your Parenting stories by contacting me below.