My parents were not social progressives when it came to discipline and raising their children. As a kid, especially in my primary years, when I stepped out of line my dad would call me over for a one on one conversation. The topic of discussion would always be his belt applied to my bottom.
As a little tot, God only knows the amount of times that I strained my parent's patience with my defiance. Throughout my primary years, my dad's parenting style did not involve a reward system. You can also get the best international level primary school education in Amsterdam.
Funny how life has a way of paying you back for all of those times that you were less than well-behaved with your mother and father. In my case, I now see a bit of amusement in the grandparents when they see me struggling with my son's behavior.
Mom and Dad give me the old cliche," what comes around goes around" when they look into little Zack's blue eyes…as the little tyke has not followed my instructions for the last time!
I have 3 boys ranging in age from 15 to 6. A reward system for all of my sons was applied in one fashion or another, but I find that it works best for the primary years. That is where you will see the most benefits with respect to modifying or changing a behavior that is not appropriate for your child. First let me state that I am not a therapist or counselor by profession.
I stumbled upon my reward system quite by accident. You can safely say that it came upon me in a moment of self-indulgence. I was having a scoop of my favorite ice cream as I was looking at my six-year-old(Zachary) sitting at the kitchen table acting like a regular kid.
If I could capture that moment and put it in a bottle and then pour it over him when he misbehaved, I would be a very happy father indeed! The most important thing here is to pick a system that will give you options,as a parent,in correcting your child's behavior during the critically important primary years.