🌟 The Vision: More Than Just Rewards
In April 2025, I designed a long-term structured plan for Martynka, my 9-year-old daughter, to help her combine discipline, thinking, and physical development — while keeping it fun and rewarding.
Martynka is a truly exceptional child, with a rare combination of grit and patience — qualities we worked hard to develop together over the years. Recently, we realized we had neglected nurturing them, and such precious traits are not assets you simply achieve once and forget. They need consistent care, encouragement, and reinforcement to take deep root.
I designed this plan to help her strengthen these qualities even further — showing her that effort pays off, that small steps lead to big achievements, and that patience is key. Not by forcing, but by building natural rhythms and habits.
🛠️ The Structure: Simple but Precise
The idea was to create a system where points are earned for completing meaningful activities, not for random busywork. Each task was carefully selected to support a different aspect of development:
- Running ➔ Endurance, perseverance, physical health. A 10-week program she had once completed with amazing results — now it’s time to return.
- Steps Method (Step 1 Basic Workbook — chess tasks) ➔ Logical thinking, focus, strategy.
- English vocabulary ➔ Hardening 200 previously learned words, ensuring perfect recall.
- Reading comics (Tymek i Mistrz) ➔ Imagination, narrative thinking, comprehension.
- Kapki (ball juggling) ➔ Optional bonus. Training makes the master, and she needs to feel progress more deeply, especially since she often says “it’s not going well.”
Each point required real time and effort. No “fast clicks,” no easy wins.
📋 The Rules: Balance, Rotation, Fairness
- Cooldown: After earning a point in one category, the next point must come from another category.
- Cap: Maximum 3 points per day.
- Time as a base: Tasks must require real, focused effort (typically 15–30 minutes per point).
- Consistency over intensity: Regular small steps preferred over big sporadic efforts.
Special safeguards:
- English: 10-20 words tested orally, must be 100% correct — otherwise, the attempt is burned.
- Kapki: Record must be shown once live — not guessed or reported.
🏆 Rewards: Staged to Support Long-Term Focus
- First 40 points: Earn a UEFA Champions League edition soccer ball.
- Next 40 points: Earn a hulajnoga (scooter).
- Final celebration: After completing both stages and the 9-week running program, we celebrate with a family trip during summer holidays.
The structure is carefully designed to maintain excitement and emotional engagement over short, medium, and long-term horizons.
🧐 Thought Process: Balancing Challenge and Support
While designing this system, I made sure:
- Tasks are varied (mental + physical).
- There’s a balance between challenge (e.g., chess thinking) and flow (e.g., comics reading).
- Rewards come at calibrated intervals to maintain motivation.
- The big final celebration emotionally ties the effort together.
- Cooldown rotation prevents spamming the easiest task.
- Effort and time investment are proportionally rewarded.
- Special rules ensure no randomness or luck exploitation (e.g., perfect word recall, kapki shown live).
🚀 Why It Matters
It’s not just about a scooter or a ball. It’s about:
- Building a foundation of self-discipline.
- Teaching delayed gratification.
- Making growth visible and joyful.
- Giving Martynka experiences of success that will echo throughout her life.
💬 Final Thought
There is no one giant step that does it. It is a lot of little steps.
Just like in running, just like in life.