Before we started homeschooling, Einstein was obsessed with his behavior chart at school. That was the first thing he would talk about when he got home- what color he got each day.
So I simply made a similar one. During the day, if he starts to whine, I tell him "Strike 1/2/3" Once he gets up to 3 strikes for a minor misbehavior, he has to move his clip down. If it is a big misbehavior, it is an automatic clip down.
He can also earn moving his clip up with good behavior, helpfulness, sticking with a hard task, etc.
I also put up a Family Rules Chart, with the punishments for each negative behavior so everyone knows what will happen.
While he still had his fair share of tantrums, I can also see that the clip chart is very rewarding for him. When he gets up to pink, he gets to select a prize for the day- something from the prize bucket, riding his bike with mom, or going swimming. These are all very motivating things for him.
On the flip side, though, if he gets down to red, he gets a punishment. That is either going to bed early, losing a special stuffed animal, or half an hour of cleaning.
The important thing here, I think, was that Einstein helped with making the chart, as well as coming up with rewards/ punishments. So even if he is upset about it, he did agree to those terms and respects them
