Use the Family Chip System to discipline your children

The Family Chip System is a program that provides reward for good behavior and penalty for wrong behavior. As we don’t pay money to our children for their daily chores, this system will ‘motivate’ them to do the chores happily and start behaving around the house. If your child is the one who misbehaves or don’t listen to anything you say, then you should use the “Family Chip System.” This is a very smart tool. When used with sincerity your children will show results within few weeks.

Steps to use the Family Chip System

  • Make fake currency coins or notes or purchase a box of casino chips online.
  • Explain your children about the program. Tell the children that this system is similar to the money system that adults use.
  • Make a list of behaviors that will earn or loose points for your children. Count anything from positive attitude, good behaviors to chores. For example, brushing teeth, getting ready for school without tantrums, not fighting with siblings, doing household chores, saying please and thank you, doing homework properly, sleeping on time etc.
  • Decide when children will face a loss of chips. Loss of chips will occur whenever children are disobedient or troublesome. For examples: when they show tantrums or yell, fight with siblings etc
  • Make a list of privileges, which they can do in exchange of the chips like watching TV, playing video games etc.

Make a list for gaining and loosing chips and make its values understand to your children. See below examples

Activities for earning chipsNo. of Chips
Making Bed2 chips
Cleaning own mess2 chips
Brushing teeth2 chips
Going to sleep on time2 chips
Being obedient1 chip
Use of ‘please’ & ‘thank you’1 chip
Activities for loosing chipsNo. of Chips
Fighting with siblings4 chips
Tantrums4 chips
Not obeying things2 chips
Not doing Homework4 chips
Privileges in exchange of ChipsNo. of Chips
Watching TV for 30 minutes1 chip
Playing video games for 30 minutes1 chip
Playing out with friends2 chips
Eating chocolates6 chips
Go to park6 chips
Demand their favourite food cooked by Mom10 chips
Going to a Fair with parents20 chips
Go to a restaurant with parents20 chips
Sleepover at friends house20 chips
Cartoon movie in cinema with parents30 chips
Get a pet dog80 chips
Hill Station trip with parents100 chips

Print and Laminate the above sheet and keep it visible so that you and your child can refer to it. It will be easier for your children to plan their chips expenditure accordingly.  Feel free to modify the program at any time according to your wish and circumstance. Raise or lower the chips points or add more item and privileges in the list, which suits your children’s interests. Do a little practice before starting the program. Start only when you are confident that your children understood the program. While giving or taking the chips back look at your child and smile, talk with a pleasing voice. Make sure you have your child’s full attention. Keep and account of chips earned and lost by your children in a note, you will be able to calculate where they are improving and where not. Keep the chips and the accounts note at a safe or locked place.

While giving chips Praise your children for doing the good thing to deserve the chips. Explain the reason so they know exactly for what they are being rewarded for. Hug them in appreciation or pat their back and let them go after they say ‘thank you’. Ask your child to put the chips in a specified container and nowhere else. Chips those are outside the container are lost. In the case where your children looses chips explain what inappropriate or bad thing they have done to loose the chips. Be calm and show some sympathy, it’s hard for a child to loose the chips. Cheer them up by motivating to earn more chips with good behavior. If your children are too upset, give them a few chips back. If your children run out of chips, give them a list of extra chores to earn quick chips so that they remain on the program.

After 6-8 weeks, try getting your children off the program. Tell them that today is no chips day. If they behave as they did in the chips system, try it again the next day. If the two-day trial period is doing well, then stretch it for a week or more and slowly you can get your children off the program. It is necessary to get your children off the program after a few months, or they will learn being materialistic, and will not do anything without a possible reward.

“Children need boundaries and ground rules. When children don’t have structure, they make up their own rules and negative behavior is what they use to get your attention.”