I was a frustrated, desperate mom ready to give into despair. With three children under five, I was ready to crawl into my foxhole and raise the white flag of surrender.
came to a screeching halt about 6 years into motherhood. I had lost the joy and contentment of raising children! All I ever wanted was to be the Best Mom but I was becoming COMBATMOM!
With bombardments of slang, backtalk, and anti-mom protests, I felt like I was in a combat zone. My desire to be the best mom was waning fast. I often went to bed with combat fatigue. Being a happy mommy seemed like a MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE!
the heavens opened & an inspired program made for the blessing and happiness of Mom came to be.
Although I learned of the Happy Face Token System as an answer to prayer, there is psychological reason it works. Psychologists refer to this kind of reinforcement as A Token Economy. ―It is behavior modification based on the principles of operant conditioning. Tokens themselves were not reinforcers; tokens were accumulated and "spent" in order to obtain a reinforcer. "Patients earn tokens, which they can exchange for privileges, such as time watching television or walks on the hospital grounds, by completing assigned duties (such as making their beds) or even just by engaging in appropriate conversations with others" (Nolen Hoeksema's Abnormal Psychology)
Positive reinforcement is an increase in the future frequency of a behavior due to the addition of a stimulus immediately following a response. Giving (or adding) food to a dog contingent on its sitting is an example of positive reinforcement (if this results in an increase in the future behavior of the dog sitting).
Negative reinforcement is an increase in the future frequency of a behavior when the consequence is the removal of an aversive stimulus. Turning off (or removing) an annoying song when a child asks their parent is an example of negative reinforcement (if this results in an increase in asking behavior of the child in the future). Courtesy of Wikipedia