Goodtimer Help Center

So, if your Goodtimer isn’t lighting up and it’s making an annoying repetitive chiming noise when you plug it in to charge, don’t worry, it's probably just a drained battery and we’ve got some easy troubleshooting tips for you.

It's very possible that your Goodtimer isn’t getting enough juice through the AC adapter to actually charge up. Each Goodtimer comes with a fancy UL certified AC adapter that needs a certain amount of electrical flow to do its job properly. Sometimes, if the adapter’s plugged into a power strip or surge protector, it’s not getting enough oomph. Try plugging the adapter directly into the wall outlet and see if that fixes things. If it does, hooray! It means the power strip was cramping its style.

Normally, when your Goodtimer’s battery is running low, a little LED light by the charging port on the back will light up red. When you plug it in, you’ll hear a little charging chime, and the LED will turn green to let you know it’s charging up. Once it’s fully juiced, the LED will switch off.

But sometimes, if your Goodtimer’s battery is completely drained, it might keep chiming non-stop when you plug it in until it’s got enough power to properly boot up. If you can’t stand the noise, you can flip it over so it's sitting on the speaker until it stops chiming. Then, let it sit plugged in until it’s good to go. If it’s still acting up, try resetting it. Just hold down the Reset button on the bottom for a full five seconds to give it a fresh start.

If none of that works and you’re still having trouble, don’t hesitate to shoot us an email at hello@gogoodtimer.com. We’re here to help!

So, every now and then, your Goodtimer might not react when you flip it right side up or upside down. No need to stress though, it happens! Think of it like your smartphone not always catching the switch from portrait to landscape mode.

If this little hiccup occurs, here's what you can do to get your Goodtimer back on track:

1. First things first, check if your Goodtimer is set to Travel mode. You can do this by tapping the "Travel" button on the bottom. It'll tell you if Travel Mode is on or off. Press it again to toggle, if needed.
2. If it's not in Travel Mode, flip your Goodtimer right side up and gently tap it down on a flat surface. Just like with our phones, sometimes it needs a little nudge to notice the change, and this usually does the trick.
3. Still no luck? No worries! Press and hold the small "Reset" button on the bottom for a full 5 seconds until the unit shuts off. Then, power it back on by pressing the "Power" button.
4. If it's still being stubborn, shoot us a message at hello@gogoodtimer.com, and we'll be happy to assist you further.

Life can get messy, especially with little ones, and sometimes gunk and grime gets into Goodtimer's token dispenser. The good news is, it was designed to be cleaned, just follow these simple steps:

1. Unscrew the three small Phillips head screws from the bottom of the token dispenser cap and set them aside.
2. Carefully remove the dispenser cap by pulling it diagonally downward, watching out for the compressed spring inside.
3. Take out the spring and token tray, wipe them clean with a damp paper towel. Use a little dish soap if needed.
4. Wipe clean the interior of the dispenser the same way.
5. Once dry, reassemble in reverse order: insert the token tray and spring, fit the dispenser cap back into place, and screw in the three screws.
6. Voila! Your Goodtimer is clean and ready to face the day!

Yes, they really do.

Okay, but why? Well, every kid's different, right? So, to get the most out of Goodtimer, it's best if each child has their very own. Goodtimer works its magic when it's personalized for each kiddo. It's like having a little behavior coach tailored just for them, giving them high-fives with positive sounds and visuals whenever they're making good choices.

With their own Goodtimer, kids learn to take responsibility for their actions. They know exactly what they need to do to earn those tokens and what treats they can swap them for. And if they slip up on the house rules, they can flip it to pause their Good Time until they're back on track.

Now, here's the thing: sharing one Goodtimer among siblings? Not the best idea. It ends up being more about keeping tabs on each other's behavior than focusing on their own. And let's be real, kids can't control what their brothers or sisters do, right? So, holding them accountable for someone else's actions just leads to more drama.

Most families find that one Goodtimer per kid works like a charm. Trust us, we've heard it loud and clear from them. So, if you want to make sure Goodtimer brings out the best in each of your kiddos, you’ll want one for each child aged 3 to 10.

We designed Goodtimer for kids aged 3 to 10. But hey, some families have seen it work like magic with toddlers as young as 2, while others have had better results starting a little later. It just really depends on your child's developmental stage.

Alright, let's break it down! Goodtimer gives you ten levels to play with. Now, each of these levels tweaks how tough it is for your kiddo to earn those precious tokens. Level 1? Easy-peasy, this level gives tokens the fastest. Level 10? That's where the real challenge kicks in, because your kid will need to exercise their patience and be good over a longer period of time to get a token. Basically, whichever level you pick decides how much Good Time your child needs to rack up before they snag a token.

Product update: Now earn tokens faster! 

Effective December 1st, 2021, all-new Goodtimers include a software update allowing kids to earn tokens faster! Read below to learn more:

To determine if your Goodtimer is an original or new version, set your Goodtimer to Level 1 and note the time. The original version of Goodtimer takes 40 minutes at Level 1 for the first segment to light up and the next segment to begin to pulse, while the new version takes just 15 minutes for one of the 12 glowing segments to be earned.  When a segment is earned, Goodtimer will chime and the next segment will begin to glow. If it only takes 15 minutes, you have a new version of Goodtimer. The number of tokens your child will earn depends on how much 'Good Time' your child is earning on any given day (some days are going to be more challenging than others) but you can usually expect them to earn 2-8 tokens per day depending on the difficulty setting. 

Maximum Tokens/Day with New Version

Goodtimer has 10 difficulty levels, allowing it to work for kids of different ages. When set to Level 1, one of the 12 segments will light up every 15 minutes, so your child will earn one token every 3 hours of Good Time, for a maximum of 8 tokens in a 24-hour period. 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. These are the maximum rates for each level on a new version of Goodtimer:

Level 1, up to 8 tokens/day

Level 2, up to 7 tokens/day

Level 3, up to 6.5 tokens/day

Level 4, up to 6 tokens/day 

Level 5, up to 5.5 tokens/day

Level 6, up to 5 tokens/day

Level 7, up to 4 tokens/day

Level 8, up to 3.5 tokens/day

Level 9, up to 3 tokens/day 

Level 10, up to 2 tokens/day

If you have an original version of Goodtimer it will earn tokens as follows. At Level 1 it takes 40 minutes for each of the 12 segments to light up, 8 hours for the whole Goodtimer to light up and a token to be earned. This gives the potential of earning up to 3 tokens per day. At Level 10 it takes 60 minutes for each segment to light up and 12 hours for the entire thing to light up and a token to be earned. This gives the potential of earning up to 2 tokens per day. Each level in between adds about 2.22 minutes to how long it takes for each segment to light up, so you can fine-tune how fast your child earns tokens.

Please reach out to us at hello@gogoodtimer.com if you have any questions about this.

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.

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.

Goodtimer should arrive charged and ready to go, so there should be no need to wait to start using it. How long the battery lasts between charging depends on how bright the lights are set. 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.

You will know that your Goodtimer needs to be charged when the little LED light on the back of the device, next to the charging port, lights up red. When plugged in anbd charging that little light will turn green. Once it is fully charged that little LED will go out.

Always plug the charging cable directly into a wall outlet, instead of a power strip or surge protector, to ensure the best charging experience.

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, give it a name, have a good time with it!

Goodtimer tokens come with a value of 1 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: https://gogoodtimer.com/policies/refund-policy

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.

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 include desired behaviors 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.

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.

Some ideas that we have used are:

• 2 Tokens for a Dollar Store toy or gumball machine prize

• 5 Tokens for 20 minutes extra screen time

• 5 Tokens for Ice cream sundae for dessert

• 10 tokens for Activity with mom or dad all to myself

• 10 Tokens to stay up 30 minutes later on Friday or Saturday night.

• 30 Tokens for Seeing a movie at the theater

• 50 Tokens for Manicure with Mom

• 60 Tokens for a $30 shopping spree at favorite store

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.

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 own 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/reminder first. 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. 

We always encourage families to do what works best for them, but we recommend that instead of focusing on the amount of time Goodtimer stays off, focus on 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.

Doing the right thing simply because it’s the right thing to do is a behavior that children must learn from their parents, teachers, and other role models.  We often think about these learned behaviors as ‘good habits’ that must be practiced to learn and to stick over time.  Goodtimer can be used to help teach children these good habits by providing engaging positive reinforcement that helps children make the connection between their choices and positive outcomes. 

Goodtimer was designed to be a universal tool that can be incorporated into your family’s routine regardless of your family values, or ‘expectations’ for your child.  Also, Goodtimer is designed to grow with your child as they develop and they are able to take on more responsibility that you feel is appropriate for them based on their age and development.

Goodtimer does include tokens that are earned for consistent good behavior, but are not intended to be given as immediate rewards for individual behaviors.  Similar to an allowance, Good Time is earned over time as kids consistently follow your family’s ‘house rules’ with the ultimate goal of creating good habits that don’t require an extrinsic reward.  It takes 3-12 hours of Good Time to earn one token. The glowing lights, positive audio feedback, and tokens are all meant as reinforcing mechanisms that encourage and contribute to long-term good habits that form over an extended period of time.  In this way, Goodtimer helps families put the focus on good choices, reinforcing them until ultimately children learn the intrinsic value of making a good choice simply because it’s the right thing to do. 

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.

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.

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.

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 had to pause your Goodtimer?” 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 your Goodtimer back over” and step back and see what happens. BE FIRM!  It may be hard at first, but since your child wants to get back to earning Good Time, he has the motivation to do something nice to make it right.

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. Based on our experience, Good Time and Goodtimer tokens are awarded for past good behavior and when we take away a token that was earned yesterday for a bad choice that was made today it may result in a loss of a sense of safety and security.  We believe that it’s important for kids to make the distinction between who they are and the choices they make.  Our children are good people, but sometimes they don’t make good choices.  When they do make good choices they earn Goodtimer tokens and even if they make a bad choice today, the good choices they made yesterday still count.  We do believe that it’s important to hold our kids accountable for the choices they make today and that’s why we recommend Goodtimer be used as a positive discipline tool as described above. While we do not recommend taking away tokens that have already been earned, ultimately, how your family decides to use Goodtimer and the tokens is 100% up to your family. 

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 (2-8 a day depending on the level setting) makes it pretty easy to double check that only earned tokens are being claimed by your child.

As another approach, 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 they 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 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 around the speaker on the top to dim the light 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.

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. 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 on 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.

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.

The first step is to figure out what incentive will work best for your child. Finding that one special incentive he so desperately wants to earn can encourage him to try healthy foods at mealtimes. For example, “We can go on a trip to the playground if you earn 15 tokens.” If your family house rule is for him to try new healthy foods, he will not be able to earn Good Time if he refuses to try the foods at mealtimes. We would suggest you keep Goodtimer near the kitchen table during meal times so it will provide consistent positive reinforcement while eating.

While every family has to do what works for them, we recommend that the focus is on reinforcing the good choices rather than punishing the bad ones, for example simply trying a healthy food, even if he says he then didn’t like it, would count for following the rule of trying the food. Once he is consistently trying the food, you can increase the number of bites needed to count as trying it. It may take time, and baby steps may be needed, but in our experience motivating kids to try new foods at each meal will cause them to choose better foods down the line.  

Another helpful tip that has worked for some Goodtimer families, is making an “Appetizer plate” for snack time. The kids think they are fancy for having an “Appetizer” and the plate includes all fresh fruits and veggies chopped up. In our experience, if they are hungry, they will eat it! When dinner time comes, and they don’t eat every fruit and veggie you can feel better knowing they’ve had their fill of produce earlier. And if they don’t finish the plate at snack time, just add it on top of lettuce, and continue the fancy meal idea of a salad course with their dinner.

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

Make mealtimes 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.

Let Goodtimer provide encouragement – 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.

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.

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.

While every child is different, we have Goodtimer families who successfully use Goodtimer with their children who have been 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.

While every child is different, many families have told us they successfully use Goodtimer with their children with ADHD. In general, Goodtimer works in homes when these three elements are present:

1) 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.

2) 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.

3) 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 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.

We hope this helps answer your question. Please don't hesitate to reach out again if there is anything we can do to make your family's Goodtimer experience more enjoyable.

There are some key steps when using Goodtimer.

1. Setting the Expectations – 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.

2. Make Connections – 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.

Reinforce the expectation of the house rule (ex: Use kind and gentle words) and calmly walk away.  For example: “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.

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.

It’s so important for our kids to understand that their words have an impact.  First and foremost you would want to set a house rule so everyone in the house is on the same page when it comes to expected behaviors.  In this case, “Use Kind Words” would be an appropriate rule to set.  In the event that your child may break the house rule,  this would be our recommendation.

1. Pause Good Time - Once Good Time is paused, kids need to take a few moments to calm down, give them that time, and sometimes even us parents need to take a minute as well to regain our composure. 

2. Understand the WHY - During this time while Good Time is paused, it provides a great time for you and your son to sit together to understand what caused him to swear.  You may find that he was angry or frustrated, and validating his feelings will allow him to feel heard. We would recommend that you review the house rule, and try to share with him (in developmentally appropriate terms) why it is important to follow that rule.  For example, “The words we say make an impact.  They can hurt someone’s feelings, or even hurt our reputation and what people think about us. If you use kind words, you can earn Good Time. If you break the house rule, Good Time must be paused.”

1.  Make Amends - We recommend that kids make amends to right their wrongs if a house rule is broken.  If your son breaks the house rule and swears, making amends will allow him to make the connection for breaking the house rule.  He may be interested in writing a letter to apologize, drawing a picture, or even doing a chore to help mom or dad around the house.  Once he makes amends, he can flip his Goodtimer back on to begin earning Good Time again.

Tattling can definitely be frustrating, we’ve all been there at some point, so please know that you are not alone, and we’d love to offer some insight on what may work in your home for when tattling occurs when one of your children breaks a house rule. 

It is important to remember that kids love justice. They want to know that we mean business when we set house rules and expect the kids to follow them. Kids want to know if we will follow through on our word and make sure that all kids at home get treated equally if a house rule is broken. I don’t know about you, but our kids can quickly figure out if we mean business or not, so if one of my kids breaks a house rule when I am not in the room and is then tattled on by another child, they may come to us to make the report and then sit back to see if we follow through on our expectation of house rules. 

While we believe that every family needs to do what works for them, here is an idea you can do at home when one of your kids may break a house rule. 

Pause Good Time – 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.

Understand the “Why” – It’s important to share with your child the reason for the house rule. 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. 

Make Amends – Ask questions to help your child consider options: “What could you do to solve this?” “What could you say to her?” “What else could you try?” “What can you do while you’re waiting?” Once the kids have made amends, give them permission to turn their Goodtimer right side up again. Sometimes it may only be paused for a couple of 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. 

We hope this helps to answer your question. You are doing a great job and if you would like to talk to someone from our customer experience team, feel free to reach out to us here or at hello@gogoodtimer.com and we would be happy to help!

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We warrant that Goodtimer and other Plus Up products will be free of defects in materials and workmanship under normal use for one (1) year from the date of original purchase. The full warranty policy can be viewed on our website by clicking here.