Please Stop Using Behavior Charts

Please Stop Using Behavior Charts

Imagine walking into work, and there on the wall for all to see is a chart that indicates you and your co-worker’s job performance and communication skills. Your boss is going to use it to display how you are doing throughout the day as you move from task to task, and everyone in your department gets to watch.  I believe we would all agree that it would be humiliating and a poor motivational tool.

 Unfortunately, behavior charts in schools and at home are the same thing. The trend of their use is growing, and I am seeing them in preschool classrooms. Behavior charts started under the false premise that earning a star or staying out of the “red zone” would entice a child to change their behavior. As an educator who is guilty of trying a behavior chart once in my career many years ago, I can share it didn’t take long for me to recognize it was not doing what I wanted it to do or what proponents told me it would do. All it did was make it clear to everyone in the room that “Tammy” was never going to earn a star. Not for lack of trying, just because she did not have the skill set yet.

Children this age are still developing self-regulation skills. Adults need to be modeling appropriate behaviors and encouraging children to make the appropriate choice. We want children to be intrinsically motivated to make the right choice. To make the appropriate choice because it feels good to them, and they have a sense of value and purpose.

When a misbehaving child in a classroom moves their name clip from green to yellow or red, all we have done is publicly shamed them for behavior they have yet to develop the skills to control. If everyone else earns a sticker for doing the “right thing” but one or two children, again, all we have done is a shame the child. In Crime, shame, and reintegration,  Braithwaite discusses the empirical evidence that we need to stop shaming young children. It is a form of punishment that affects their view of how the world sees them and what they believe about their personal value for the rest of their lives.

But what about the charts parents use at home where their child is earning stars for appropriate behavior and get a reward for earning a specified amount. Unfortunately, these are no better. When we reward children for a change in their behavior, we are essentially bribing them for their behavior. Your child may seem to be happily complying, but it is for the prize not because they want to change their behavior. We have missed the opportunity to instill values and are inadvertently teaching our children only to behave when they can benefit from it. I have overheard children ask their parents what their payment will be for compliance.

Parent- “We need to go to the store after school.”

Child- “I wanted to go to the park.”

Parent- “I am sorry, but I need to go to the store.”

Child- “ What will you buy me since I don’t get to go to the park.”

This was an exchange between a 5-year-old and their parent, what do you think the conversations will be like when they hit the teenage years!

So what do we do instead?

Experiments with children have shown time and again that extrinsic motivation, such as earning a reward, can undermine intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is when we do things because they bring us internal satisfaction, they feed our curiosity, or we have developed a conscious that helps us navigate right from wrong.

Our role as educators and parents is to use positive discipline to help children develop self-regulation skills. When children misbehave, they are looking to fill a need and do not know the socially acceptable way to do it.

By setting clear expectations from an early age and using positive directives: telling the child what to do instead of what not to do, we help them develop that skill set.

When a child takes another child’s toy, we as adults need to explain clearly. “ Tommy is using the toy. You need to ask him if you can use it when he is done.”

“Please walk.”

“I need you to hold my hand while we cross the street.”

“When we shop today, it is for Steven’s present. Can you think of a present Steven would like.”

Moving a name clip from green to red can’t possibly teach these social skills, and there is an exceptionally high cost if children do not have these social skills before they enter kindergarten. Bettencourt, Gross & Ho, in their 2016 study found that students who do not have these skills before they enter kindergarten are 7 times more likely to be expelled, 7 times more likely to be suspended, 80% more likely to need special services, 80% more likely to repeat a grade.

Early childhood educators and parents need to invest the time to support the growth of these skills. Moving a name clip or being paid to behave never will. It takes time and effort, but the skills the children learn will benefit them their entire lives.