The Reward Menu in your kid's binder has blank lines. This note tells you how to fill them in without breaking the loop. The kid never sees this page — the math happens in your head. They see only the final XP price next to the reward they picked. That separation is the whole design.
◆ The One Principle You Price By
Time is generous. Money is strict. On purpose.
Daily rewards — screen time, bedtime extension, dessert pick, staying up to finish a show — should cash out fast. Keep them close to 1 XP per minute. Bigger rewards — toys, gear, outings — should take real effort. Keep those close to 100 XP per dollar. Price everything the same and your kid earns a $50 toy in a week — nothing left to work toward.
◆ Sample Rates · Starting Anchor
The Screen-Time Kid
— a starting anchor, not a mandate. Tune to your kid.
This system was built for the kid who loves games and wants every minute of screen time. Instead of fighting it, you're turning it into the engine — screen time becomes something earned, not assumed, and the same effort builds toward bigger rewards too.
Time Rewards
1 XP = 1 minute
of screen time. Earned daily, spent daily. High frequency — the kid can redeem this every day and the system never breaks.
Vault Rewards
100 XP = $1
for toys, gear, and anything with a price tag. Big rewards take weeks to bank — that's what keeps them working past Week 1.
◆ The Utility Adjustment · Necessities Get Priced Down
The 100:1 rate is for pure-want items. If it's something you'd have bought anyway — shoes, school supplies, sports gear — price it down. You're doing the math. They just see the XP number.
◆ If The Pull Fades — Re-Price Together
→If rewards stop motivating, sit down with your kid, talk through what changed, hand them a fresh Reward Menu and re-sign it. Some families never need this. Some need it in Week 3. You'll know when.
◆ Hold The Line — Three Rules That Don't Bend
01Screen time comes from today's XP only. XP earned today = screen time today. Vault XP cannot buy screen time. If they didn't earn today, they don't game today.
02The daily cap is the ceiling. Even if they earned 200 XP, screen time stops at your set limit. Write it on the Pricing Cheat Sheet and hold it every day.
03Vault XP is for rewards only. It never shrinks from screen time — only from redeeming a menu item. That separation is what keeps them saving toward bigger things.
You carry the math. The kid carries the effort. XP earned first, spent second — never the reverse. That's the whole game.