You might not actually need a behavior system at home! Try addressing the ABCs.

Antecedents or Triggers:

Is there something that is happening right before the problem behavior that you can proactively address? Hungry, tired, you tell them to go on Zoom for class?

Behavior:

Is it just something that annoys you and you can work on ignoring or dealing with in some other way? Is there something that the child could be taught to do instead of the problem behavior to get the same need met?

Consequence:

What happens after the problem? Do you look up from your laptop, repeatedly tell them not to do something? Maybe they actually want your attention instead of the toy they are taking out of their sibling's hands, so how can you talk to them about this/address this need they have? Review the Regulating page of this website for more ideas about what may be causing behavioral issues at home during this time.

Focus on the positive as opposed to the consequence. Incorporate extra privileges or rewards so that NOT earning them is the consequence.

Make the rewards motivating; involve your child in what their reward will be, and think about how choices can be built in.

Be consistent and award rewards each time it is earned, paired with a specific statement about what they did to earn it.

For daily incentives, make sure it's something that can be done daily and you are okay if it happens daily (e.g. extra book at bedtime, extra screen time, or piece of candy).

If you want to work toward bigger rewards like those pictured above, then award check marks, stickers, or tickets that will need to add up to a certain amount to earn the reward. Make sure you say if rewards can only be spent on weekends or if they can be spent as soon as they reach a certain amount.

If using something like the color system used at school, make sure each color ties to a reward or loss of privilege at the end of the day.

Make systems as clear as possible so everyone in the family knows when a ticket, token, or reward should be awarded.

Here, a child may be working for a new coloring book, which they will earn after 5 completed math assignments (and a star would be drawn in to show progress after each assignment is completed).

Bigger rewards might be needed the harder the criteria is for the student (e.g. this child tantrums instead of completing math).

Keep in mind that children should get immediate feedback after their behaviors, and that rewards may need to be as immediate as possible depending on the severity of the problem.

You want the child to earn a reward relatively easily in the beginning in order to experience success, and you can slowly make the criteria more difficult as the child gets better at the desired behavior (i.e. there originally were only two math assignments that needed to be completed).

Put your system somewhere everyone can see it and is easily accessed.

Criteria needs to be clear about how a child earns something/gets something taken away. In this example, the child is "on blue," and can move up to purple.

This system works best with one to three target behaviors that correspond with explicitly discussed house rules or to address a specific issue.

In this example, a child might "move up" a color for following directions the first time and being kind to (sharing or helping) their sibling.

The rule for "moving down" in this situation would be needing to have directions repeated or hitting/throwing something at sibling.

A warning before a loss/move might be helpful, as well as specific statements about why they are gaining/losing. Remind children they can always move back up/have more opportunities to earn.

Staying calm is KEY. Use your own deep breathing and self-talk strategies when providing warnings, moving children up and down, and identifying loss of privileges.