Most guides to making a chart are about materials. Almost every chart that dies had perfectly good materials.
The four that matter
| Decision | Get it wrong and | Get it right and |
|---|---|---|
| Can the total go down? | They protect it instead of trying | Nothing is ever at risk, so attempting costs nothing |
| What is on it? | Only easy things, so trying earns nothing extra | A few genuinely hard ones, paying more |
| Is there something to earn this week? | Nothing to aim at by Wednesday | Something reachable in two or three days |
| Is there something far off? | It plateaus once the small stuff is routine | A distant thing worth weeks of saving |
The setup itself
Six to ten lines is plenty. Write each one as a thing they DID, in their own words where possible: "got my shoes on first time", not "good behavior in the morning". A child cannot practice a category.
Pay the hard ones more. If everything is worth one, the chart is a record of attendance and there is no reason to attempt the difficult thing.
The one that catches most people
Put a comeback line on it. Something that pays on the day everything went wrong, for coming back, apologizing unprompted, or starting again. Without one, your worst week produces a chart that says your child was worth nothing that week, and no family keeps looking at that for long.