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The Positive Reinforcement App that Positively Works

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The Big Picture

We hope Smiles & Frowns is the best tool you’ll find to make great rewards charts that work. But the real goal is to help you create personal, positive connections with your kids as you work on behavior together.

So be sure to bring them into the process. When you set up a board, don’t forget to go over all of the behaviors together. Work with them to set rewards they want. Recognize their behavior every day. And above all else, be sure to review their progress with them regularly.

Soon you’ll see how all of the features work together to support Clarity, Consistency, Collaboration, Consequence and a sense of Challenge – the 5 Cs that we think matter most.

SETTING UP BOARDS

STARTING A BOARD

  • – Choosing a board

To find the board that’s right for you, browse a little first. Just tap on each of our boards and read the preview. When you’ve found the one you want, just tap again to select it.

  • – Naming your board

To customize the name of your board before you start using it, just type in the name field at the top of your board set-up screen. If you miss this at first, you can always change the name by editing the board later.

  • – Adding or deleting behaviors

Customizing the Smiles and Frowns on your board is easy. You can do this either during your initial board set-up screen, or by editing your board later by tapping the boards icon on the top left or the gray “Boards” button in lower nav menu on the app.

To delete a behavior, just swipe left on that behave and tap the “Delete” button. To add, just tap the “Add Behavior” button and then select as many behaviors as you would like and then tap “Add Selected Behaviors”.

  • – Defining new behaviors

If a behavior you’d like to use does not exist, you can tap “Add Behavior”, then tap “Define Custom Behavior”. You’ll now be able to type in your new behavior, save it and add it to your board.

EDITING A BOARD

  • – Editing a board

Just tap the boards icon on the top left of your screen or the “Boards” button on the bottom navigation, and you’ll go to the Board List View.  Tap on the orange options button to the right on any board in your list, and you’ll go to a screen where you can change the name of the board, the edit your list of behaviors, edit the rewards or manage the people connected to the board. Tap “Done” to save changes, and then tap on the name of the board to make that board active.

  • – Resetting a board

To completely reset a board you’ve created, tap the “Boards” button in the lower navigation, then swipe left on the board you want to reset. Tap on the “Reset” button. This will return the board its starting state, with original behaviors and no people added to the board yet.

ACCEPTING AN INVITE:

  • – How to accept an invite

To accept an invite to join a board, you’ll need to have the app installed on your device, and an account set up. If you’re new to Smiles & Frowns, you can follow the link that comes with your invitation.

Once you’re set, just tap the “Invites” button on the lower navigation and tap the “Enter Code” button. Enter your code in the following field, and in a few seconds, you’ll see the board you’ve just joined.

If you’ve been invited as a Parent, you’ll be fully free to edit the board. If you’ve been invited as a Guardian, you’ll be able to award Smiles & Frowns, but you won’t be able to change the board itself.

MANAGING PEOPLE

ADDING PEOPLE

  • – Adding a Child

From your board, just tap on the orange +, select Child on the chooser, and enter his or her information.

Or tap on your boards icon on the top left of your screen or the gray “Boards” button in the top menu, which will take you the the Board list view. Tap on the orange button next to your board name, and tap on the People tab on the editing screen.

  • – Adding a Parent

From your board, just tap on the orange +, select Parent and enter the information for the person you want to invite. He or she will receive an email with a link to the app and a unique code to sync with your board.

Or tap on your boards icon on the top left of your screen or the gray “Boards” button in the top menu, which will take you the the Board list view. Tap on the orange button next to your board name, and tap on the People tab on the editing screen.

  • – Adding a Guardian

From your board, just tap on the orange +, select Guardian and enter the information for the person you want to invite. He or she will receive an email with a link to the app and a unique code to sync with your board.

Or tap on your boards icon on the top left of your screen or the gray “Boards” button in the top menu, which will take you the the Board list view. Tap on the orange button next to your board name, and tap on the People tab on the editing screen.

EDITING PROFILES

  • – Editing a Child’s profile

Just go to the board your child is on and swipe left on his or her row. You’ll have the option to edit or even delete your child’s profile.

Or tap on your boards icon on the top left of your screen or the gray “Boards” button in the top menu, which will take you the the Board list view. Tap on the orange button next to your board name, and tap on the People tab on the editing screen.

  • – Editing your own profile 

Your own user profile is always accessible through Setting in the bottom nav menu. Just tap on Profile and make your adjustments.

  • – Editing a Parent or Guardian profile

Actually, you can’t, because they control their own on there devices. But you can remove them from a board by swiping left and tapping “Delete”.

DELETING PEOPLE

  • – Deleting a Child

Just go to the board the Child is on and swipe left on his or her row. You’ll have the option to edit or even delete your child’s profile.

Or tap on your boards icon on the top left of your screen or the gray “Boards” button in the top menu, which will take you the the Board list view. Tap on the orange button next to your board name, and tap on the People tab on the editing screen.

  • – Deleting a Parent or Guardian

Just go to the board the Parent or Guardian is on and swipe left on his or her row. You’ll have the option to delete them from the board. This will not delete their own account profile on their own device, but they well be disconnected from your board. If you want to reconnect them, just invite them again.

Or tap on your boards icon on the top left of your screen or the gray “Boards” button in the top menu, which will take you the the Board list view. Tap on the orange button next to your board name, and tap on the People tab on the editing screen.

      

USING SMILES & FROWNS

GIVING SMILES AND FROWNS

  • – Giving a Smile or Frown

Just tap on the Smile or the Frown in your child’s row and the list of behaviors will pop up. Simply select the behavior you want to award and then tap the “Give Smile/Give Frown” button.

  • – Adding behaviors to a board

If you don’t see the behavior you want when you go to give a Smile or Frown, you can tap the “+ New Behavior” button. Then just select the behavior you’re looking for from our master list, or tap “Define Custom Behavior” to create your own, which you can then add to your board.

  • – Adding a Note

This is a great feature that lets you add some context to a smile or frown, which really helps when your review performance. First, select a behavior, like “Good Job” and then tap the “Add a Note” field. The keyboard will pop up, and you can add a note, like “Helped carry in the groceries.” Then just tap the “Give Smile/Give Frown” button. Try tapping the microphone to use the dictation feature, too!

GIVING REWARDS

  • – Giving a reward

Tap on the spending icon on your child’s row, and then tap on the reward they want to “buy”. You can use the buttons to adjust the number of units you’re buying (10 minutes of video, 20 minutes, etc.) and then click the “Spend Smiles” button.

  • – Using the Max button

You can also use the “Max” button, which will give you the maximum units of that reward they can afford at the moment. It’s really a great way to use Smiles & Frowns to let kids earn their allowance. Just Max your Money reward, and you’ll know exactly how much to give them.

  • – Creating a new reward

To create you own reward, just go to the rewards screen, tap on the orange “+” button, select the type of reward you want to create. (You can have as many of each type as you want). Then just set the number of Smiles your new reward will “cost” and fill in the text field to define the reward itself.

REVIEWING PROGRESS

  • – Reviewing history

Regular performance reviews – perhaps over week or every other week – is a key way to keep your kids involved and encouraged.

To review behavior, just tap on your child’s icon on any board, and you’ll get a screen that gives you three different views of performance. Each shows you all the Smiles and Frowns given, when and by whom. Any notes you added will also be visible here.

The “This Board Daily” gives you a daily view of the last two weeks. This is the best way to clearly go over exactly how they did over that time.

The “This Board Weekly” groups behaviors together in two week chunks, so you can get a clearer picture of strengths and weaknesses with specific behaviors.

Finally, the “All Boards Weekly” does the same thing, but gathers behaviors from all the boards that child is participating in at the moment.

  • – Exporting history 

Just navigate to your child’s review screen and tap “Export” in the top left corner. A PDF will be generated that you can then send to through email, text, etc. As we only keep a six-month history of behavior, we recommend you do this regularly for your own records.

  • – Resetting your Smile and Frown counts

After reviewing progress, it’s often really helpful to “wipe the slate clean” and give your kids another chance to earn more Smiles than Frowns.

This is key way to the sense of Challenge, because it gives your child another chance to “win”.

To do this, just go to your child’s row on a board and swipe left. You’ll have the option to reset the Smile & Frown count – without losing any of the spending Smiles they’ve earned.

MANAGING MULTIPLE BOARDS

Finally, you might that you need more than one board to handle life. For instance, a general behavior board for all of your kids, but also a homework board for your new middle schooler, and a travel board for summer trips.

Never fear! Smiles & Frowns with built with fast board switching in mind. From any board, it’s just one click back to your full list of boards, and one click to get to the board you need. Boom. Done.

 

How to Set Up & Use Smiles & Frowns: Kids View

Smiles & Frowns: Kids View is a companion app to regular Smiles & Frowns. They work together to let your kids sync automatically to their behavior boards on their own devices, safely and securely. With Smiles & Frowns: Kids View, your kids can see their behavior boards and follow their progress anytime from their own devices. And when you enable the Kids Requests feature (just $.99 a month or $9.99 a year for the whole family!), then can even give themselves Smiles and Frowns for your approval.

SETTING UP SMILES & FROWNS: KIDS VIEW 

Just install Smiles & Frowns on your adult devices and Smiles & Frowns: Kids View on each of your children’s devices. Then just swipe left on any child’s row on a parent device, tap on Kids View. This will take you to the Kids View set-up screen. Anytime you need to make any adjustments to your Kids View account, this is the place. 

On the Kids View Set-up page, enter a password and touch Set Password. This will generate a unique login code for this particular child. Then just go to your child’s device and use this code and your password to login. Voila! In seconds, your child’s device will now be synched to the board on your device.

Remember, your children can always use Kids View to follow their progress and explore the list of Smiles and Frowns behaviors on their board for free! 

ENABLING KIDS REQUESTS

Whether you’re new to Kids View or have been using it for awhile, enabling our new Kids Request feature is easy. On your parent device, swipe left on your kid’s row, then touch Kids View to get to the KIds View set-up screen for that child. Towards the bottom of the screen, you’ll see a switch to toggle “Kids Requests Enabled” to the On position. As mentioned, Kids Requests is a premium feature, so you’ll be prompted to subscribe. It’s $0.99 per month or $9.99 per year for the whole family! 

Once you’ve subscribed, you’ll see a green status bar that lets you know your subscription is active. You can then follow the same path to enable Kids Requests for any child on any board on your account.

USING KIDS REQUESTS

So, how does it all work? It’s a natural!

IF YOU’RE A KID:  The next time your child opens Kids View on their device, two things will happen: First, instead of just browsing through their lists of Smiles and Frowns, they’ll be able to actually select Smiles and Frowns – just like the adults do – and submit them for your approval. Secondly, they’ll be able to see the status of their requests in the new MY REQUESTS tab on the bottom of the screen. It will show Green for approved, Yellow for approved but changed (and also show notes from parents) and Red for denied. If you let their requests sit around too long, you may hear about it!

IF YOU’RE AN ADULT:  The biggest change you’ll see with this update is that the gray Invitations tab on the bottom of your screen has now become the Requests tab. You’ll get a little red notification badge whenever you get a new Kids Request. Just tap on the tab and you’ll see the requests. You can select requests and tap Approve Selected to approve several at once, or you can tap on the orange button on any request for the option to modify the request (change the number and/or add a note for your child) or deny the request. And, of course, you can always give Smiles and Frowns like normal. Approved requests will appear in your child’s review screen (just tap their icon) along with the ones that you give.