To reward or not to reward

That is the question. I distinctly remember the first time I was able to say to Blake "Do this and you'll get this" and it worked. I could have sworn that I heard the angels singing. Now some would say that you shouldn't have to reward your children for things they should be doing already. I mean, when I was a kid, the reward was that you didn't get a spanking. I would say that so far reward has worked pretty well for us. It really started with potty training and has evolved over time with things like having a good day at preschool (i.e. no hitting, whining, respecting other, taking a nap). Now we have made a whole reward chart with specific responsibilities and each day he either gets a token for the responsibility or he doesn't. At the end of each week we will count the tokens and they will be like points. After so many points, he will earn a prize (which could be a trip to the dollar store, picnic in the park, night with grandma and grandpa etc.) (thanks Ms. Amy for all the good reward ideas) We are hoping that this will help him learn that he has some basic rights in life such as love, respect, food, a home, a bed etc. but the rest of it (movies, toys, going to the park etc) are priveledges and just like everyone else you have to do your job to earn these things. I don't know if it's wrong or it's right but so it works for us :o) (famous last words)