QUASH THE BATTLEGROUND
‘The me strategies’ has been developed by Child Psychologist, and regular media contributor Jenny Chapman. Jenny has dedicated her career to working with families, including blended and foster families and with unfosterable young people in out of home care. The successful strategies she has implemented with these families has inspired her to develop an alternative parenting technique that can be implemented in a variety of family settings. ‘the me strategies’ is a simple and fun intervention technique that is designed to successfully adjust patterns of behaviour, teach new skills, and/or, encourage participation in completing tasks and contributing to the family unit. Motivators (incentives and privileges) are identified to promote change in your young person’s pattern of behaviour. Jenny is very passionate about ‘the me strategies’ and would love to see families experience and enjoy the peace and serenity that it brings to the home.
WHAT makes it different?
Many parenting techniques are reactive, for instance, grounding, smacking, yelling, and sending to the bedroom. This technique, in contrast, is preventative, a strategy that reduces the likelihood of a behaviour occurring in the first place. It is reparative too, giving your children the tools to build skills, adjust their behaviour, and contribute to the family unit. You can use this technique with children as young as 4 or 5 years old, up until your young person leaves home. If you have more than one young person you can create personalised ‘score me’ sheets for each. Behavioural issues can be as simple as completing tasks. For instance, having to repeatedly ask your child to pick up after themselves, make their bed, or set the table for dinner, in itself is not major, but having to ask constantly every time and every day can be wearing on you and the rest of the household.
You’ve possibly tried something like this before or you may recognise elements of this intervention, but it is the combination of elements, together with the rules of implementation, that set it apart from other behaviour change techniques, particularly rewards charts. Typical parenting techniques rely on punishment, whereas this intervention is based on choices and consequences that see a young person motivated to choose to earn incentives and privileges.
This strategy is designed to assist parents to:
Support their young person to:
- Manage their emotions
- Meet age appropriate developmental milestones
- Become involved in appropriate social opportunities
- Explore their areas of interest
- Complete tasks
- Set and achieve goals
Manage:
- ‘Pester Power’
- Homework
- Household routines and structures
- Their young person’s contribution to the family unit
- Their young person’s contribution to the wider community
Teach:
- Social skills
- Self care skills
- Interpersonal/communication skills
- Daily/home living skills
- Self direction skills
- Negotiation skills
- Empathy
- Health and safety skills
- Functional academics eg. budgeting skills
- Logic and reasoning
Manage their young person’s behaviour including those behaviours associated with:
- Oppositional/defiant behaviour
- Tantrums
- Lack of motivation
- Childhood disorders
Demonstrate to your young person the benefits of:
- Contributing to the family unit
- Engaging with you
- Improved self esteem and confidence
- Delayed gratification
- Prioritising
- Good choices
Other products are designed to give additional incentives and privileges to young people who already have many material items and many privileges. This technique works on the basis that anything above a baseline of needs for your young person requires an investment from your young person – NO behaviour change NO incentives or privileges.
Other products are often contingent on a particular goal being met at a particular time, for a particular and pre-identified reward. This flexible intervention allows for your young person to trade for incentives and privileges at any time they have points, thus they are consistently reinforced for positive behaviour. This is a flexible intervention, whereas other products are usually rigid and structured.
Whilst rewards charts may assist to extinguish a behaviour, they usually don’t teach the skills associated with the learning that occurs with this strategy.
You can use these techniques with children as young as 4 or 5 years old, up until your young person leaves home. If you have more than one young person you can create personalised ‘score me’ sheets for each.
Contents include:
- Quick Guide Instructions
- About Me & Getting Me Started Booklet
- Motivating words
- Log Book
- Two ‘score me’ magnet sheets
- Magnet sheets:
Behaviour/skills/tasks + blanks (there are over 200 behaviours/skills/tasks to choose from)
Incentives/privileges sheets + blanks (there are nearly 200 incentives/privileges to choose from) - Behaviour point numbers
- Incentive/privilege point numbers
- Character sheets
- Magnet sheet pen
- ‘cheque me’ Cheque Book
- Tokens
These flexible techniques allow for your young person to trade for incentives and privileges at any time they have points, thus they are consistently reinforced for positive behaviour. Because your young person is involved in the setting up process, and therefore will have an investment in the process, increasing the likelihood they will be more willing to participate. This technique is a flexible intervention and not rigid and structured like many other products, and it is because of this we are confident that if you use the strategy correctly you will achieve a peaceful and relaxed household and will have fostered healthier relationships between family members within days. However, if you don’t achieve the same success as other families, you can return your product within 30 days of purchase.
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Remember, if you don’t achieve the same success as other families, you can return your product within 30 days of purchase.
GET IN TOUCH
Maybe you have a few questions about ‘the me strategies’ or your purchase, please fill in the form below and we will contact you shortly.
PHONE +61 425 257 010
PO Box 1718, Newcastle NSW 2300
PO Box 1718, Newcastle NSW 2300