Solve Behavior Issues With “Beat The Clock”

A stopwatch is an easy and cheap way to motivate kids and it can be a powerful weapon in your parenting arsenal. The idea is to motivate your child to beat the clock. The behavior is non-negotiable, but if they do it quickly they can get a prize.

In order to play, you choose a target action or series of actions and set a timer for a set amount of time for the child to complete the action. If the child completes the desired behavior in the allotted time, they earn a reward.

The first time you play this game, pick something that your child can easily complete. Think of this as teaching the game, rather than addressing a difficult behavior. The first few times you play you want the child to win so that they learn that beat the clock is a fun game. If you have multiple children, make sure that all children who beat the clock receive the prize.

Once the child understands the game, you can use it to address specific behaviors. If the children complain about not beating the clock and therefore not getting the prize, reassure them that they can do better next time. It is important that the first few times you play this game the time is more than sufficient to accomplish the needed task. However, if the child does not qualify for the prize, do not give it to him as this will make the game ineffective in the future. Instead, offer a chance to play beat the clock with a different behavior or to play with the same behavior at a later time. If you decide to try it with a new behavior, the prize should also be new. You do not want to accidentally teach your child that they do not have to comply and can still get the prize. Losing the game and losing the prize can be very motivating. Children will generally work harder to succeed the second time around.

When playing "Beat the Clock," It is important to pick the right reward. You want something that is easy to give and that will be motivating to the child. The reward can be something like a small piece of candy or a sticker. Not all rewards need to be tangible. Rewards based on activities, like watching a TV show or Playing in the park, can also be motivating. Children love being in charge. Allowing children to make a decision between several alternatives, such as what to have for lunch or what movie to watch, can also be used as a reward.

Getting four small kids to bed was a nightly ordeal. I dreaded bedtime and the endless dawdling my children used to avoid getting and staying in bed. I solved the problem by instituting a standard Beat the Clock game. If they were able to use the bathroom, get on pajamas, put dirty clothes in laundry basket, brush their teeth and get in bed before time ran out, they got two stories. If they didn’t beat the clock, they only got one.

They could control how many stories they got based on how quickly they got ready for bed. Sometimes they would negotiate and claim they could get ready even faster, if I would read three stories instead of two.  Since I would way rather read than nag, I usually agreed.

Bedtime turned into a fun interactive game rather than a dreaded battle. Occasionally my kids failed to beat the clock. I always acted as disappointed as they were.  I would beg them to do a better job the next day, so we could resume our two story tradition.