Goodtimer Help Center

If your Goodtimer won't light up or turn off when you flip it over it has likely be set to travel mode.  Press the "Travel" button on the bottom of the device to turn off Travel mode and this will usually fix the problem. Check out this video to learn more about Travel Mode: https://youtu.be/axtYTzmlFVo

Goodtimer was designed to go with your family, wherever the day may take you. Since Good Time is normally activated and deactivated by flipping Goodtimer over, we don’t want your child to miss out on Good Time just because their Goodtimer is bouncing around in a bag or the backseat of the family vehicle. So, Travel Mode turns off the “flip” sensor and uses a touch-activated metal contact ring around the speaker instead. Touching the contact ring will toggle Good Time on and off.

Also, occasionally the sensor in your Goodtimer may not respond when the device is turned right side up or upside down. Don’t worry, sometimes the sensor doesn’t recognize that Goodtimer has been flipped over, similar to your smartphone not recognizing a change from portrait to landscape mode. If this happens, there are a few simple things to do to get it responding again. First, make sure that your Goodtimer is NOT set Travel mode by pressing the “Travel” button on the bottom of the device. If it isn’t in Travel Mode, turn Goodtimer right side up and gently tap it down onto a flat surface. Sometimes Goodtimer needs a little “encouragement” and this will usually be enough to fix the sensor.

If Goodtimer is still not responding, press and hold the small “Reset” button on the bottom of the device until the unit shuts off. Power it back on, by pressing the “Power” button on the bottom of the device. If it is still not responding, please contact us at hello@gogoodtimer.com for further assistance.

If your Goodtimer is making a loud, repetitive, chiming noise when you plug it in to charge, it typically is not getting enough power through the charging adapter to actually charge the device. Each Goodtimer comes with a UL certified AC adapter that requires a certain amount of electrical flow to be able to safely and effectively charge the Goodtimer’s battery. If the adapter is plugged into a power strip or surge protector and this is happening, please try plugging the adapter directly into the wall outlet and see if that corrects the issue. Under normal circumstances, a little LED by the charging port on your Goodtimer will light up red when the battery is getting low. When you plug it in, a charging chime will sound and the little LED will turn green to indicate it is charging. Once charging is complete, the LED will turn off. But sometimes, if your Goodtimer’s battery has drained completely, it may chime over and over when plugged back in until it has gotten enough power to fully start up. If you are able to adjust the volume down to silence the chime, leave it plugged in until the LED goes out. Then we recommend resetting it, by holding down the Reset button on the bottom of the device for a full five seconds, to make sure  However, if this remains a persistent problem, please contact us at hello@gogoodtimer.com and we will be happy to help.

While it depends on how much Good Time your child is earning on any given day (some days are going to be more challenging than others) you can usually expect them to earn 1-3 tokens per day. Goodtimer has 10 difficulty levels, allowing it to work for kids of different ages. When set to Level 1, a segment will light up every 40 minutes, so your child will earn one token every 8 hours of Good Time, for a maximum of 3 tokens a day. On Level 10, new segments light up once every 60 minutes, taking 12 hours to fully light up the Goodtimer and earn a token, giving them a max of 2 tokens a day. Knowing this, you can set appropriate token values for the available rewards your child can earn.

You can adjust the amount of tokens from by adjusting the "Level" button on the bottom of the device.  On level 1, your child can earn a maximum of 3 Goodtimer tokens in a 24 hour period.  On level 10, they can earn a maximum of two tokens in a 24 hour period.   Before launch, we tested Goodtimer during two consumer trials and tested several different periods for awarding tokens. What we found from families who participated in the trails was, if tokens are earned more frequently (ex: every 2 hours), they end up having to manage too many tokens. At this rate, your child could earn up to 84 tokens in just one week, that’s a lot of tokens! Since launching we have found that there is a simple solution that has worked for many Goodtimer families.  What we recommend is that you adjust your family’s token economy to help your child feel more motivated and make the connection between earning Good Time and the incentives that are important to them. For example, first get input from your child to find out what incentives are important to them and fill out the Token Worksheet in the Goodtimer children’s book.  With young children you can even add photos of the incentives in the worksheet so they clearly understand what they’re working towards. For example, if your child is excited about saving tokens to purchase a new Lego set, you can make the number of tokens they need to earn smaller to start (like 3-5). This way in just one or two days, they'll earn enough tokens for this incentive.  Then, once they make the connection between earning Good Time and working towards incentives that are important to them, you can adjust the number of tokens to a higher number that works for your family. We’ve also found that for Goodtimer to be effective, the whole family must be on the same page in terms of the expectations of behavior. After receiving Goodtimer, you probably read the included Children’s book and set your house rules. We’ve found that simple rules work best like: “eat during mealtime”, and “pick up after ourselves”. Once your house rules are set, it’s time to pick incentives that interest your child. This is where you fill out the Token Worksheet with incentives that your child is excited about. When your child realizes that making good choices is linked to earning incentives that matter to them, they’ll want to make a positive choice more often than not. Pro Tip - If you want your child to earn their very first token faster, turn the Goodtimer on for several hours before introducing it to your child. That way most or even all of the segments will already be lit up and they will get that first token very quickly. You can also use the segments lighting up as an excuse to celebrate your child's good behavior by cheering, giving high fives or hugs, dancing, whatever makes them smile and reassures them that they are doing a good job so they stay motivated.

Goodtimer was designed for children between the ages of 3 and 10 years old; although some have families have had success using Goodtimer with children as young as 2. It really depends on the developmental level of the individual child.

Goodtimer is designed to track the performance for a single child. A critical element of the Goodtimer experience is that your child takes responsibility for their behavior and therefore their performance is tracked by their individual Goodtimer. After opening Goodtimer, they will personalize it and it will track their performance over time helping them to progress as they reach new Good-Time milestones.

Although positive reinforcement is generally a recommended practice for improving behavior, the overuse of rewards can result in entitlement issues or a "what's in it for me attitude". Specifically, if children are rewarded for each good choice they make, they begin to expect a reward for every good deed they do. Goodtimer was carefully developed to address this phenomenon by incorporating a positive reinforcement approach that does not directly reward specific behaviors. Instead, Goodtimer tokens are earned when children consistently adhere to established house rules over an extended period of time (for example a 24-hour period). In this way, children are encouraged to make good choices without constantly receiving a reward for these desired behaviors. Also, families are encouraged to establish a token incentive system such that the child can exchange their tokens for reasonable privileges; not extravagant prizes. In this way, children learn to make good choices because it’s fun and the right thing to do, not so they'll get a big reward

Thanks so much for your question.We get this one all the time. You’re right, if a child breaks a house rule, we recommend that parents instruct the child to flip their Goodtimer over, pausing Good Time as a natural consequence for their choice. However, unlike a timeout where the child feels isolated to work through their feelings on their own, Goodtimer encourages the family to take a ‘time-in’ to review the house rules, understand why the behavior occurred, and work together to make amends and get back on track. When Good Time is paused, Goodtimer also offers verbal prompts such as “you can do better,” which further encourages kids to improve their behavior. When using traditional timeouts the focus can often be on punishing bad behavior by isolating children as a punishment.

Here is a great article from PBS that discusses the negative effects that timeouts can have on children. A key point of the article is “𝘈 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 — 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴.” 

We believe strongly that every family needs to do what they feel is best for them and we recommend that as much as possible you use Goodtimer as a tool to encourage the behaviors you want, rather than punishing the ones you don’t. When your child is calm, take time to read the Goodtimer Children’s book again reviewing your house rules and the token worksheet. Make sure your child understands your house rules and why they are important to their child’s health and development. It’s also important that he understands that he can only earn Good Time when he’s following them.   If your child makes a bad choice and breaks one of your family's house rules, we recommend you follow these three steps: Pause Good Time - Have your child turn over their Goodtimer, (or if he refuses to do so, go ahead and turn it over for him) and firmly tell your child that you can talk about turning it back over once he (or both of you) calm down. Your child must calm down first. When we’re upset, it’s very difficult for our brains to learn and positive discipline is all about learning from our mistakes.Understand Why - Once your child calms down and comes back to you to get their Goodtimer right-side-up, make sure he tells you why he had to turn his Goodtimer off. You might start by asking “Do you know why you've turned your Goodtimer off?” If he doesn’t know why you can tell him. “You had to turn your Goodtimer over because you broke our house rule of “listen to mom and dad” and you can’t earn “Good Time” when you do not listen to mom and dad. It’s also important that your child understands the reason for your house rule, so you might ask “Do you know why it is important to listen to mom and dad?” or “If you needed to tell mom something, how would you feel if she didn’t listen to what you had to say?” Taking this time to make sure your child understands your house rule, why it’s important, and why his choice was not good is so important to the learning process. Make Amends - We recommend that your child make an effort to make amends for his bad choice in a way that’s relevant to the house rule that was broken. For example, if he did not listen to mom and dad, he may have to do a good deed to make it right. This could be writing an apology note, drawing a picture, giving mom a hug, or helping dad with a job around the house. The key is that he understands that he did something wrong and it takes action on his part to make it right. You can ask your son, “What do you think you can do to make dad feel better?” and if he doesn’t have any ideas you can give him some choices like “Would you like to draw dad a picture or write dad an apology note?” Then, you can say “Once you make it right, you can turn you Goodtimer back over” and step back and see what happens. BE FIRM! It may be hard at first, but since your son wants to get back to earning Good Time, he has the motivation to do something nice to make it right. It’s also important he understands Goodtimer can be turned on when he's following your house rules, but it can't be on when he's not. This isn’t meant as a punishment, but a consequence for him not following your house rules. We recommend that if your child isn’t doing what’s expected of him, you give him a warning, and then if he continues, you calmly tell him that he needs to turn over his Goodtimer until he makes amends (cleans up his toys, apologizes for rude behavior, brushes his teeth.... etc.) for his actions. At this point, you’re probably going to need to be firm and it’s really important you follow through with these natural consequences for his behavior.  Finally, we recommend that your child be responsible for turning their Goodtimer over; both right-side-up and upside down so that he can make the connection between his choices and the outcomes in your household. The act of him turning over his Goodtimer empowers him to make the decisions that will yield the outcomes he wants, motivating him to make good choices. It’s not going to be perfect at first, but we hope that these suggestions help. We’ve found the combination of natural consequences, constant positive reinforcement and meaningful incentives for good behavior is a powerful combination that can help your child learn good habits that last. 

Start by asking your child to turn their Goodtimer upside down. If they refuse, it is okay for you to turn it over for them, but always give them the chance to do it first. A critical element of the Goodtimer experience is that your child takes responsibility for their behavior, so keeping them involved in the whole process as much as possible helps them learn. Once Good Time is paused, if they need to take a few moments to calm down, give them that time. When they are calm, discuss why Good Time had to be paused and ask them what they think they should do to make amends for their behavior. Making amends can include, stating what they did, saying or acting out what they should have done instead, apologizing, and then offering an act of kindness to the other person involved. A kindness could be a hug, sharing a toy or treat, doing a good deed, etc. Once they have made amends, give them permission to turn their Goodtimer rightside up again. Sometimes it may only be paused for a couple minutes, other times it may take a lot longer, it really depends on the child's emotional state and how quickly they turn their behavior around. 

While every family should do what works best for them, if one of our children is breaking a house rule we usually give them a warning. For example, “If you don’t go to bed on time you’re going to have to turn over your Goodtimer.” Then if they still won’t listen we say, “please turn your Goodtimer over for not being a first time listener.” (That’s one of our house rules.) Then we say, “if you hurry up to bed and do a good job with your bedtime routine you can turn your Goodtimer back over. If not, it’ll have to stay off all night.” This usually provides the motivation needed to hurry up to bedtime. So, make sure to connect their behavior with the specific rule and explain what you want them to do. Clarity and consistency in expectations help kids learn the fastest.

We recommend that your child turn their Goodtimer over on their own if possible. When they do it for themselves, it helps them make the connection between their choices and natural consequences. If your child refuses to flip Goodtimer over for making a bad choice, this is actually a good sign because it shows that they’re making that connection and that Goodtimer is working to motivate them to continue to earn more Good Time. If they refuse to turn it over it is ok for you to do it for them, just know that you’re not alone and many Goodtimer parents have to pause Goodtimer for their kids when they’re first getting started. 

Just as a refresher, if your child makes a bad choice, and breaks one of your family's house rules, we recommend you follow these three steps:

1. Pause Good Time - Have your child turn over their Goodtimer, (or if he refuses to do so, go ahead and turn it over for him) and firmly tell your child that you can talk about turning it back over once he (or both of you) calm down. Your child must calm down first. When we’re upset, it’s very difficult for our brains to learn and positive discipline is all about learning from our mistakes.

2. Understand Why - Once your child calms down and comes back to you to get their Goodtimer right-side-up, make sure he tells you why he had to turn his Goodtimer off. You might start by asking “Do you know why you've turned your Goodtimer off?” If he doesn’t know why you can tell him. “You had to turn your Goodtimer over because you broke our house rule of “listen to mom and dad” and you can’t earn “Good Time” when you do not listen to mom and dad. It’s also important that your child understands the reason for your house rule, so you might ask “Do you know why it is important to listen to mom and dad?” or “If you needed to tell mom something, how would you feel if she didn’t listen to what you had to say?” Taking this time to make sure your child understands your house rule, why it’s important, and why his choice was not good is so important to the learning process. 

3. Make Amends - We recommend that your child make an effort to make amends for his bad choice in a way that’s relevant to the house rule that was broken. For example, if he did not listen to mom and dad, he may have to do a good deed to make it right. This could be writing an apology note, drawing a picture, giving mom a hug, or helping dad with a job around the house. The key is that he understands that he did something wrong and it takes action on his part to make it right. You can ask your son, “What do you think you can do to make dad feel better?” and if he doesn’t have any ideas you can give him some choices like “Would you like to draw dad a picture or write dad an apology note?” Then, you can say “Once you make it right, you can turn you Goodtimer back over” and step back and see what happens. BE FIRM! It may be hard at first, but since your son wants to get back to earning Good Time, he has the motivation to do something nice to make it right.

Goodtimer was designed to be fun for kids. It glows, it talks to them encouraging them to continue to make good choices, they earn tokens, which they LOVE, and can save them and exchange them for incentives that are meaningful to them. Some parents have told us that their kids occasionally refuse to turn their Goodtimer upside down, so they have to do it for them, but you’d be surprised that if they do make a bad choice, most kids prefer to turn it upside down for themselves, rather than someone else doing it for them. The simple act of flipping their Goodtimer over empowers them and helps them make the connection between their choices and their outcomes.  Many Goodtimer parents have told us that if their child breaks a house rule and have to turn it over, the parents tell them they can’t earn Good Time again until they make amends. This could mean saying sorry, cleaning up a mess, writing a note, or committing to trying harder in the future. Then the parents just let their Goodtimer stay off and wait. Since the kids love earning Good Time they’re motivated to make it right so they can get it glowing again! 

To answer your question: “If we DO turn it over in this situation, for how long?” We always encourage families to do what works best for them, but we recommend that it isn’t so much about the amount of time Goodtimer stays off, but instead your child making amends for their choices.  For example, if your house rule is “use your voice not your hands when you’re upset”, it’s important for your child to understand the reason for this house rule.  In general, if your child breaks a house rule, we recommend the following three steps:

1. Turn it over - Have your child turn over their Goodtimer, and firmly tell your child that you can talk about turning it back over once he (or both of you) calm down.  It’s really important that your child calm down first.  When we’re upset, it’s very difficult for our brains to learn and positive discipline is all about learning from our mistakes

2. Understand Why? Once your child calms down and comes back to you to get their Goodtimer right-side-up make sure he tells you why he had to turn his Goodtimer off.  You might start by asking “Do you know why you turned your Goodtimer off?” If he doesn’t know why, you can tell him.  “You had to turn your Goodtimer over, because you broke our house rule of “no hitting” and you can’t earn “Good Time” when you hit your brother.  It’s also important that your child understands the reason for your house rule, so you might ask “do you remember why hitting isn’t a good choice when we’re upset?” or “if mommy was upset at you, would you like to be hit?”  Taking this time to make sure your child understands your house rule, why it’s important and why his choice was not good is so important to the learning process.

3. Make Amends  - We don’t want your child to think that all he has to do to get back to Good Time is say a “quick apology”, as this may not be enough of a natural consequence for learning to occur and new good habits to form.  We recommend that your child make an effort to make amends for his bad choice in a way that’s relevant to the house rule that was broken.  For example, if he hit his sibling, he may have to do a good deed to make it right. This could be sharing a toy, helping with a sibling chore, sharing a token, writing a note, etc.  The key is that he understands that he did something and it takes action to make it right.  You can ask your child, “what do you think you can do to make your sibling feel better?” and if he doesn’t have any ideas you can give him some choices like “would you like to share one of your toys with him or write him an apology note?”  Then, you can say “once you make it right, you can turn your Goodtimer back over” and step back and see what happens.  

This sequence of natural consequences and positive discipline has proven to be a really effective way to encourage kids to form good habits while building their self esteem.

We designed Goodtimer with the idea that as a default it should be on all day and night as a constant glowing reminder that our kids are for the most part doing their best to make good choices and if we acknowledge and encourage good behavior it’s more likely to continue. If you have a good relationship with your child's teacher, we recommend that you tell them about your house rules and how you use Goodtimer to encourage your child to make good choices. We think it’s also important that you learn about the teacher’s expectations for good behavior in the classroom so that you can reinforce this with your child when they’re at home.  Setting and communicating clear expectations with your child is perhaps the most important part of helping them form good habits that last. In the morning, when your child leaves for school, you can remind them that their Goodtimer will remain during the day and they’ll earn Good Time as long as they’re making good choices while they’re at school.  However, if they misbehave in school and the teacher sends home a negative report, they’ll have to pause their Goodtimer as a consequence of their behavior.  This should help encourage your child to continue to make good choices during the school day.  This way, when your child comes home in the afternoon they may be happy to learn they earned a Goodtimer token for making good choices throughout the day.  However, if your child comes home with a not-so-shiny report from his teacher that day, your child can flip Goodtimer over when he comes home allowing you to take the time to connect with him/her and find ways  to make amends so he/she can start earning Good Time again.

We recommend that Goodtimer remain on as long as your child is making good choices and following your house rules as defined by your family. When reading the Goodtimer Children's book, you may have seen the worksheet after page 21 where you define your "house rules." If you haven't done this already, we encourage you to work on your house rules as a family and make sure everyone understands them. If, for example, your house rules include going to bed on time and staying in bed through the night, and your child is doing this, we recommend leaving Goodtimer on through the night. Your child will continue to earn Good Time through the night and may even be excited to see that they earned a token in the morning. If Goodtimer stays by their bedside at night, it can serve as a nightlight. However, you may want to adjust the brightness by touching the metal contact ring on the top to a level that is comfortable for your child. You may also want to use the left button on the front of Goodtimer to lower the volume to the lowest setting or to mute it so that Goodtimer's voice doesn't disturb them while they sleep.

Goodtimer was created to make it easier to track and reward a child for behaving according to their family’s rules. Positive parenting techniques typically avoid using punishments, instead focusing on praising and rewarding positive behavior. But ultimately, how your family decides to use Goodtimer and the tokens is 100% up to your family.

Sleep and rest are so important for the whole family and Goodtimer is a great tool to use in addition to a small digital clock (or watch) to encourage your kids to stay in bed until a certain time.  The first step is to set a clear house rule of what time they can start their day, so everyone is on the same page.  Explain to the kids, “If you aren’t sleeping you need to be resting.” Then choose a time for them to be able to get up and out of their rooms that works for you, but let’s say 6am is the goal for now.  What you will do is take a small sticky note with the number 6 and place it right by the clock where they can easily see it from bed. You will have to remind your kids that they are able to get up and leave their bedroom when the hour number matches the 6 on the sticky note. Keeping Goodtimer in their rooms at night not only provides a great night light, but also a constant reminder they are earning good time if they remain in their rooms until the digital clock reflects the goal time to start the day.  Should the kids come out of their room before the goal time, you will need to remind them by saying “Listen, remember this is a house rule, and the Goodtimer will have to be turned over if you are out of your bed before the clock says 6.” We’ve had Goodtimer families use this strategy and found that it worked for them. Naturally this may take some time, especially with children who are still learning number recognition. 

There are some key steps when using Goodtimer to address temper tantrums.  After receiving Goodtimer, you read the included Children’s book and set your house rules. Simple & clear rules typically work best.  Some examples include, Use kind and gentle words, Be a first time listener, or Keep your bedroom tidy.

Once the house rules are set, it’s time to make the connection to work towards things that interest him.  This is where you create the token sheet and fill it with incentives that he would like to work for. When your son realizes that making good choices is linked to earning incentives that matter to him, he’ll want to make the positive choice more often.

 

When your child has a tantrum it's important to reinforce the expectation of the house rule (ex: Use kind and gentle words) and stay calm yourself.  For example, you might say “Turn over your Goodtimer. You can’t earn Good Time again until you use Kind and Gentle Words. It's up to you. When you’re ready to use kind and gentle words, you can turn Goodtimer over again.  If you need help let me know, I’ll be in the other room.”   The most important thing is having the kids realize that it’s up to them.  In our experience, If the motivation is there and the kid gets to feel like they have a choice, they’ll choose the positive outcome.  Also, if you continue to engage, even by yelling, with a child who is throwing a tantrum, in a way it's giving them the attention they crave.  Walking away typically helps diffuse the situation faster.

Although we believe every parent should do what they feel works best for their family, we support the following approach when kids are dealing with BIG emotions:

1. Be sympathetic,
2. Don’t isolate,
3. Remember that anger is ok
4. Keep your cool

You may already practice some of these strategies at home, which can be used in connection with Goodtimer to de-escalate things when your child gets upset. For example, if he isn’t following your house rules, you may ask questions to understand why and try to be sympathetic to his responses. Then, if your child continues to make bad choices and Good Time is paused as a consequence, rather than isolating your child, use this as a form of 'Time In.' When his Goodtimer is paused and you both have a few minutes to calm down, it’s a good idea to share your feelings and discuss the ‘why’. Why is he angry and why it is important to you for him to follow your house rules? Once he shares why he’s upset and you share why it is important to follow the house rules take a moment to 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜. Finally, it’s important that he makes amends in some way before getting back to earning Good Time. This can be as simple as hugging it out at the end of your conversation, or even a high five. Then once Goodtimer is flipped back over, this should provide him with the motivation to keep at it and continue to earn Good Time. Remember, 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙠𝙚𝙮.

Each family is different, but in our experience, it’s common for kids to test the boundaries of a new routine especially when they just don’t want to do what you’re asking of them like: ‘turn off the screens’, ‘it’s time for bed’, ‘eat your vegetables’... The thing we recommend most is create a system that works for your family and stick with it.  Consistency is critical to the long-term effectiveness of any new method and this is no different with Goodtimer. We believe strongly that every family needs to do what they feel is best for them, but since you asked, we recommend that as much as possible you use Goodtimer as a tool to encourage the behaviors you want, rather than punishing the ones you don’t. Please note that research shows that the word “discipline” refers to helping your child learn a new behavior rather than punishing the behavior you don’t want. 

 

When your child is calm, take time to read the Goodtimer Children’s book again reviewing your house rules and the token worksheet. Make sure your child understands your house rules and why they are important to their health and development.  It’s also important that kids understand that they can only earn Good Time when they are following the rules. 

 

With Goodtimer, it’s helpful to figure out what’s going to motivate your kid, so make sure they have some input in creating the token worksheet. Let’s say your child really likes toy trucks. You’ll want to make sure he understands that in order to get the truck he needs to earn Good Time by following your house rules. We also recommend that you make sure that the number of tokens needed to earn the truck is a realistic and achievable goal in the relatively short term. On level 1 your child will earn 3 tokens in a 24-hour period if their Goodtimer is on all day. It can be helpful to set a more achievable goal for the first few incentives so that your child starts their Goodtimer experience off feeling successful.  

 

Finally, we recommend that your child be responsible for turning their Goodtimer over; both right-side-up and upside down so that they can make the connection between their choices and the outcomes in your household. The act of turning over the Goodtimer empowers them to make the decisions that will yield the outcomes they want, motivating them to make good choices.

 

It’s not going to be perfect at first, but we hope that these suggestions help.  We’ve found the combination of natural consequences, constant positive reinforcement and meaningful incentives for good behavior is a powerful combination that can help your child learn good habits that last.  It may take some time, but if you're consistent and stick to it, we’re confident things will improve. 

If you set a house rule setting the expectation of him keeping his bedroom tidy, Goodtimer can stay on and he can earn Good Time when he makes good choices for cleaning up his room.  If your child refuses to clean up his room, an appropriate consequence would be to tell him to flip his Goodtimer over and tell him he is unable to earn Good Time until the job is done.  Once the room is clean, tell him the Goodtimer can be flipped back over and he can continue to earn Good Time.  It is very impactful if a child realizes that making the good choice is linked to incentives he wants.

Sometimes, just getting our kids to eat at all during mealtimes is a struggle. If this is an issue for your family, make a house rule “eat during mealtime” and instruct your child to turn their Goodtimer over if they are not eating during mealtime. For example you might say:  "You can't earn Good Time if you're not 'eating during mealtime'.  If you're not eating, you'll have to turn over your Goodtimer until you start eating your meal".  The most important thing is having the kids realize that it’s up to them. In our experience, If the motivation is there and the kid gets to feel like they have a choice, they’ll choose the positive outcome. When they do start to eat again, let them turn their own Goodtimer back over and provide a lot of encouragement further reinforcing the desired behavior.

 

Here are some more tips about how Goodtimer can be used at mealtimes:

Make Mealtime Fun – In our experience, anything kids can ‘dip’ tends to make food more exciting for them, (Carrots & ranch, Apples & peanut butter). Getting the kids involved in the preparation of foods will perk up their interests in the foods they are creating for meals and may make them more intrigued to possibly give them a try.

 

Get Goodtimer Encourage Healthy Choices – While we believe every family should do what works for them, offering desserts for a cleaned plate can send mixed messages to kids, and over time they can make the connection with sweet desserts being the desired outcome. Instead of offering a dessert, let Goodtimer offer encouragement by letting your child exchange tokens for a non-dessert incentive such as choosing a family movie to watch, playing a board game, or taking a walk to the local park.

 

Be Patient – Continue to introduce healthy or new foods at mealtimes. In our experience, consistency is key, and while it may take some time, healthy foods will become preferred over time.

While every child is different, we have Goodtimer families who successfully use Goodtimer with their children who are on the Autism spectrum and who have said that Goodtimer works for their families. Goodtimer successfully works in homes when these three aspects are present: 

Keep it positive - When children receive positive reinforcement for good behavior, it improves their self-esteem providing motivation to continue to make good choices. Unlike punishing bad behavior with timeouts, Goodtimer places the focus on your child's positive behavior, encouraging them to continue to make good choices throughout the day.

Be mindful- Setting clear household expectations allows the whole family to be on the same page when it comes to expected behaviors.  Kids thrive in environments with structure, consistency and clearly defined expectations.

Meaningful Recognition – As your child earns Good Time throughout the day, they will earn the Goodtimer tokens for consistent good behavior rather than as a reward for a discrete behavior.  Finding meaningful incentives that matter to your child will allow them to make the connection between their choices and positive outcomes.

 

Goodtimer works well with First/Then charts to help children break down their activities into simpler two step processes to provide them with attainable goals.  For example, you may want to use the First/Then language with your child when they are getting ready for bed.  “First we will brush our teeth, then I will read you a bedtime story.”  It can turn the bedtime routine into a seamless event while the Goodtimer glows green at their side while encouraging them at the same time.

 

There are times children who have Autism need a bit of visual support in the form of a social story to complete a task.  For example, a social story on cleaning up their room provides a simple and clear set of instructions that kids can relate to.  It breaks the job down into more manageable chunks to make it easier for kids to get the job completed.

 

Goodtimer will provide your child with consistent positive reinforcement throughout the day, and when they make good choices paired with tangible incentives that matter to them, they cash their tokens in for things they are really excited about that you approve of.  It can help your child to make the connection between their good choices and positive outcomes.

 

So while we cannot guarantee that Goodtimer will work for all children on the Autism spectrum, it has been effective for some families and we also offer a 30 Return Policy, which can be viewed here, to allow you to try it out and see if it will work for your family.

The last thing parents want is to get into power struggles with their children, but part of growing up involves testing limits and pushing boundaries, so it is perfectly normal for our kids to occasionally go against what we are asking them to do. We recommend you try to practice these 5 things during a power struggle:

1. Stay calm. Not only are you modeling the behavior you want from them, but you will be in a much better position to convince them to calm down.

2. Try to see the child’s viewpoint and empathize. Remember that kids want to feel like they are understood, that their feelings are being paid attention to and taken into consideration.

3. Sidestep the power struggle. You don’t have to attend every power struggle to which you are invited.

4. Invite cooperation through wish fulfillment and play. After you set your house rules, Goodtimer can help your child make the connection of making positive choices and earning incentives that matter to him when he follows the house rules you have set together.

5. Empower your child with choices and by looking together for win/win solutions. Having your child flip over his Goodtimer on his own when a house rule is broken will help him understand he cannot earn Good Time until he decides to make amends to start earning Good Time again.

Here are some tips to help maintain a struggle-free relationship (as much as possible):

1. Make Empathy and Connection your go-to way of relating to your child. Remember that we all want to feel like we matter and are heard.

2. Play daily to get your kids laughing. Laughing together strengthens the family bond.

3. Make time for Special Time. This is something that can be part of your daily routine or it can be part of your token exchange system where your child exchanges tokens for special one-on-one time with mom or dad.

4. Use Routines. This is fundamental to Goodtimer and why we incorporated house rules, so everyone in the house is on the same page when it comes to expected household behaviors.

5. Welcome Emotions. We all have emotions, emotions are normal and it is normal for kids to struggle sometimes in dealing with their emotions. Let them vent.

Remember, Goodtimer is a positive discipline tool and although every family has to do what works for them, we recommend that the focus be on reinforcing good choices rather than punishing the bad ones. In our experience, if the motivation is there and the kid gets to feel like they have a choice, they’ll eventually choose the positive outcome.

Turning Goodtimer over simply pauses the timer, it does not reset it. This way, children retain the credit they have earned by being good and following family rules, even when they are temporarily off of Good Time. Once their behavior improves and Goodtimer is flipped back right-side up, the timer picks right back up where it was. In this way, Goodtimer is consistently reinforcing the positive rewards of being good. However, there is a recessed, reset button on the bottom of the device, if you ever need to set the timer back to zero.

It’s no surprise to parents, that being honest doesn’t always come naturally and many kids learn at a young age that telling a lie can be easier than telling the truth.  Goodtimer is an award-winning positive reinforcement toy that has helped hundreds of families encourage their kids to be honest including not taking tokens they haven’t earned.  As a quick refresher, once enough Good Time has been earned and each of the light segments is glowing, Goodtimer will perform a celebration and tell your child they have earned a token.  Also the center button on the front of Goodtimer will glow indicating your child has earned a token.  At any time when this center button is glowing your child can press it and Goodtimer will tell them they can take a token. It’s true that tokens can be removed from the Goodtimer dispenser at any time even if they haven’t been earned by your child and some children, (especially little ones) may try to take tokens that they haven’t earned.  For this reason, many parents have made “being honest” part of their house rules and use Goodtimer to encourage their kids to tell the truth and learn not to take tokens they haven’t earned.  To discourage kids from taking tokens they haven’t earned we recommend that your family make one of your family’s rules about honesty.  This typically provides enough incentive for your child to wait.  Also, when you first get started, knowing how many tokens are loaded into Goodtimer to begin with, and how often they can be earned (2-3 a day depending on the level setting) makes it pretty easy to double check that only earned tokens are being claimed by your child. Also, some families have told us that they use the token dispenser to store tokens their child has earned and keep the token in a bowl or jar out of their reach.  If the parents keep the supply of tokens, when a token is earned the child pushes the nose button and the parent gives them a token, and the child places it into the dispenser to save until then exchange them for incentives on the token list. Here at Goodtimer, we support families using Goodtimer in a way that best works for them.  

We believe that every family should create house rules that are consistent with their individual values. However, we’re often asked for suggestions for house rules by families who are new to Goodtimer. Here are a few ideas we hope will inspire you to create house rules that work for your family: For young children, it’s best to keep things simple and start out with just a few (3-5) house rules.

• Be kind and gentle
  
• Use your words
  
• Inside voices
  
• Be a first time listener
  
• Make healthy choices (this can apply to picky eaters and kids who struggle with bath time and brushing teeth)
  

For school-age kids your rules can evolve as they are ready to take on more responsibility:

• Patience is waiting without complaining
  
• Get yourself ready for school on time
  
• Get yourself ready for bed on time
  
• Keep your room clean and tidy
  
• Contribute to the family before exchanging tokens
  

We recommend your house rules be phrased as "do" statements rather than “don’t” statements. For example: “Use your words” is recommended over “no hitting” because it puts the emphasis on the desired behavior. Make sure everyone in the family understands what is expected of them and display the list of rules where everyone can see it. If your children are too young to read you can include simple pictures to help them remember. Setting clear expectations is the first step to forming good habits that last. For more information about creating your house rules, check out this article or contact us at hello@gogoodtimer.com.

Your child has earned a stack of Goodtimer tokens, now what? Sometimes, coming up with exciting, enticing things for your kid to earn is tough, but there is no need to stress or break the bank to encourage your little ones to keep being their best. Sometimes toys and special treats will work, sometimes it's the experiences that motivate them. Younger children typically aren’t as good at waiting, so smaller prizes may work best. Older kids will figure out how to get the most bang out of a buck, so setting bigger goals will help them learn about patience and saving. When setting up a list of potential rewards to be earned, remember, whatever works for your family is the best way to go. Also, we recommend you start by asking your kids what they'd like to exchange their tokens for. Here are some ideas Goodtimer families have shared with us:

• Read a book. Their favorite. And let them choose the time and place.
  
• Stay up late. 30 minutes to one hour when it’s not a school night.
  
• Screen time. Just a little extra. 15-30 mins
  
• Family Game Night. Kids pick the game the family plays together
  
• What’s for dinner? Let them choose, not just for them but the whole family
  
• Choose a TV show for you to sit down and watch together as a family
  
• Bake together. Let them chose the recipe.
  
• Download a new App for their tablet.
  
• Buy an ice cream for the whole family!
  
• A day off chores. Reward them with a day off from their daily chores.
  
• One-on-one time with mom or dad - Kids love spending individual special time with parents.
  
• Go for a bike ride. Make time for your kids, the two-wheel kind.
  
• Plan a family day out. Let them choose the next family outing
  
• Take the family to mini golf, laser tag, climb zone or a trampoline park
  
• Go to the park…and make a beeline for the slides and swings!
  
• Go to the movies. Can you guess who gets to choose the film?
  
• Have a play date or sleep over with their friend or cousin.
  
• Trip to Target or Walmart to get one item from the Toy department
  
• Camp out in the yard A date night with mom or dad Role reversal.
  
• Let your child be the parent and choose what you do for the day!

Goodtimer was designed to go with your family, wherever the day may take you. Since Good Time is normally activated and deactivated by flipping Goodtimer over, we don’t want your child to miss out on Good Time just because their Goodtimer is bouncing around in a bag or the backseat of the family vehicle. So, Travel Mode turns off the “flip” sensor and uses a touch activated metal contact ring around the speaker instead. Touching the contact ring will toggle Good Time on and off.

Levels change the amount of Good Time needed to earn a token. Goodtimer has 10 difficulty levels, allowing it to work for kids of different ages. When set to Level 1, a segment lights up every 40 minutes, so your child would earn one token every 8 hours of good time, for a maximum of 3 tokens a day. On Level 10, segments light up every 60 minutes, taking 12 hours to fully light up and earn a token, giving them a max of 2 tokens a day. Knowing this, you can set appropriate token values for the available rewards your child can earn.

Goodtimer was designed to go with your family, wherever the day may take you. Since Good Time is normally activated and deactivated by flipping Goodtimer over, we don’t want your child to miss out on Good Time just because their Goodtimer is bouncing around in a bag or the backseat of the family vehicle. So, Travel Mode turns off the “flip” sensor and uses a touch-activated metal contact ring around the speaker instead. Touching the contact ring will toggle Good Time on and off. If you are concerned that your child may get antsy on the flight, you can set it to travel mode and add it to your carry-on bag as it weighs less than a pound and Goodtimer can tag along for the plane ride to help encourage your child to hang in there for the long flight. Goodtimer will have to go through TSA, and because it has a battery in it, it will have to be put into a bin when going through the security line. If TSA asks you what it is, you can just say it is a nightlight/sound machine for your child. When you get on the plane, you may want to turn the volume down low or even off as you wouldn't want it to disturb neighboring passengers. Some Goodtimer families have shared with us that having Goodtimer along with them on their trips helped to manage challenging behaviors while on vacation. It especially helped during long car rides, while dining out at restaurants, and during downtimes at the hotel. But we do recommend letting Goodtimer stay in your hotel room or lodging during vacations, especially if you will be doing a lot of walking or swimming.

Goodtimer comes charged, so there should be no need to wait to start using it. How long the battery lasts between charging depends on how bright the light is set to. On the highest, brightest setting, Goodtimer will keep working for about 2 days, roughly 50 hours before needing to be plugged in again. On the lowest setting, a single charge can last 4 days, or about 100 hours. That said, we do recommend getting in the habit of regularly plugging your Goodtimer in so it always stays charged and ready to go.

Goodtimer comes charged so that your child can start earning Good Time right away. And though the battery will last for 2-4 days between chargings, depending on how bright the light is set to, we do recommend plugging it in regularly to make sure that it is always ready to go with your family whenever and wherever your day may take you.

Goodtimer has a built-in, rechargeable battery, and comes with its own ac adapter. While we do recommend getting in the habit of charging it regularly, it can last between 2-4 days per charge, depending on the brightness setting of the lights.

We encourage your child to name their Goodtimer, to make it their own, so we include different colored stickers that have room to write a name. This is especially important for families with multiple children, so you can easily tell their Goodtimers apart. Pick a color, pick a name, have a good time with it!

Goodtimer tokens come with a value of one each. But we want to give families the most flexibility in customizing their Goodtimer experience, so we include stickers that can be applied to boost the value of some tokens. Children can either earn higher value tokens or trade in lower value tokens for a higher value one, helping them to learn that five 1 tokens equals one 5 token, etc. But ultimately, how your family decides to use Goodtimer and the tokens is 100% up to your family.

This is actually a common question, as we all know that young kids (and even some older ones) need robust toys. We designed Goodtimer to be tough but it is an electronic device so can only take so much abuse. We warrant against manufacturing and material defects but not damage caused by misuse. We also offer a 30 day return period, so you can check it out and see if you think it will work for your family. You can see both our warranty and return policy on our website here. If you are concerned about how gentle your kids might be with Goodtimer we would recommend making one of your House Rules something like, "Take good care of my things." This way, as long as they are being nice to their Goodtimer, your kids will be able to earn Good Time. Each Goodtimer also comes with a storybook that personifies Goodtimer and asks kids to teach their Goodtimer how to be good by setting a good example for it, which can help encourage them to treat it gently. We even have some families that have chosen to keep their Goodtimer up on a countertop or shelf, so their little ones aren't trying to carry it around the house but they can still easily see the lights and hear the encouraging sounds throughout the day.

Life can get messy especially with little ones and sometimes sticky fingers will help gunk and grime to work their way into Goodtimer's token dispenser. The good news is, Goodtimer was designed so that it's easy to clean. If your token dispenser is dirty or if something has gotten stuck in it, follow these simple steps or watch this short video, and you’ll be back to enjoying Good Time in no time!Unscrew the three small Phillips head screws from the bottom of the token dispenser cap and set them aside. Be careful not to lose them, they're small. Remove the dispenser cap by pulling it down and away from the body of the Goodtimer, it has a little lip that slides into the body so it needs to be removed in a diagonally downward direction. Note: Be careful, because the spring inside the dispenser is compressed so it will want to push the cap out. Pull out the spring and the token tray and wipe them clean with a wet paper towel. If it's really sticky, you can also use some dish soap or Windex to clean these parts.  Remove any objects from the dispenser and wipe the interior clean.Once the parts are dry, they can be put back in reverse order: First, insert the token tray and spring.Then line the bottom of the spring up with the circle on the inside of the dispenser cap, fit the lip of the dispenser cap into the body of the Goodtimer and press the dispenser cap back into place.Finally, screw the three screws back in to secure the dispenser cap and you should be ready to go! 

If we haven’t answered all of your questions here, please check the Facebook Goodtimer Village (www.facebook.com/groups/goodtimervillage/) or email the Goodtimer Customer Experience Team at hello@gogoodtimer.com so we may answer your questions directly.

You can find the Goodtimer return and refund policy here: Goodtimer Return and Refund Policy

The Goodtimer shipping policy can be found here: Goodtimer Shipping Policy

At this time, we only ship to the USA and Canada through our website, however you may purchase Goodtimer from the Goodtimer Amazon storefront where international shipping is available: https://www.amazon.com/goodtimer.

Orders shipping to APO/FPO/DPO addresses ship for free and are sent via the USPS. Tracking is available until they are handed off to Military Mail, at that point, due to the nature of these addresses, tracking may not be available. Please be aware that since these addresses are spread out around the world, we cannot give estimates for how long it will take for orders to arrive.